The Lessons of True Leadership
	Reflective leadership is a specialized concept to uphold. The idea for this type of leadership requires a certain amount of quiet deliberation to maintain the right type of leadership. My growth into a reflective leader started before Notre Dame, but I have gained the tools to dial in on the absolute and real meaning of it. Utilizing these tools will give me a greater understanding on how to be a good leader and role model, rather than just someone who is a figure head. 
	Unironically, a good portion of my last integration assignment was focused on the art of mindfulness. This is something I still hold highly important in the concept of reflective leadership. Without the ability to take a moment to think about the ramifications of a decision, a person is only a so-called figure head for the people they are in charge of. As a society we are so fast paced now that people rarely think through their actions fully before completing them, and sadly this is even more true for individuals who lead our world. Granted, their fast decision-making may not be entirely their fault because they have their own stressors from a fast-paced world around them. Yet the idea of mindfulness requires solitude from that busy world, it requires the ability to think before acting to ensure it is the best decision. As William Deresiewicz states, “solitude is the very essence of leadership”. 
	Accordingly, the ability to be mindful allows for the growth of wisdom. As discussed in my week 12 reflection, wisdom is derived from experiencing certain events that help us grow. However, the most important aspect of this growth is reflecting on the event. Without reflection to truly understand the experience, there is nothing gained from it. The event just becomes another arbitrary experience, but it can be more meaningful with the moments of mindfulness to understand its gravity. Paul from Philosophy Break discusses Aristotle and how “we’re actually creatures that are ultimately built for contemplation”. This sums up the blending of wisdom and mindfulness perfectly. Aristotle believed in contemplation, and he is known as one of the wisest men to have lived. 
	Another aspect that greatly influences reflective leadership is maintaining justice. A part of being a sufficient leader, reflective or not, is maintaining a degree of justice within the group of people.  This type of leadership requires a set of convictions and morals that guide a person to ensuring nobody is mistreated. This is a concept that I talked about in my week 11 reflection because it is something I believe is significant. As spoken about before, my brother was bullied a lot in school and I can see how it has affected him even now, 20 years later. Also, the point Father Sandberg mentioned about how it is probable that people who grew up to be leaders of genocide very much could have been bullies that did not face repercussions when they were younger. The mindfulness or reflective part of this leadership is in the morals, if a person cannot determine what their morals are in solitude, then they will have difficulty keeping justice 
	 Further, another requirement to being a good leader is learning who we are accompanying and who is accompanying us. Both roles of this accompaniment are crucial because they both teach us important lessons. As I discussed in week 10, the most significant aspect of both roles is the selflessness that is attached to each. As a person being accompanied, they must be willing to accept the help and guidance from another person, it is a test of humbleness. Accordingly, a person who is accompanying another must possess selflessness to assist others in whatever way they need. A leader will fill both roles and learn how the act of selflessness can encompass many different aspects of life. Reifenberg states it best with, “Accompaniment is about sticking with a task until it's deemed completed, not by the accompagnateur but by the person being accompanied”.  He resembles putting others before ourselves with this because it shows that we are not the ones that decide the end of a journey.
	Lastly, a large aspect of reflective leadership that I have learned over the past year is the usage of empathy. In my week nine reflection, I discuss the program I participated in that required not eating for 24 or so hours, but I did not feel that it taught empathy adequately. However, through Father Sandberg’s commentary on my reflection, I realize that it is not based on the act that tries to teach us empathy but rather how we can digest that information and mold it into wisdom. We may never truly understand another person’s situation unless we experience for ourselves, but I think with a true effort we can try to learn from other experiences. It is crucial we maintain a sense of circumspection because we do not want to overstep boundaries, but we can still learn from other experiences without necessarily walking in their shoes. 
	Although the concept of leadership is always growing and can never be complete, this year in Moreau has taught me aspects of leadership that I took for granted. These parts of leading seem intuitive but without conscious effort into improving these skills, I would stay stagnant in my growth as a leader. Consequently, the best part about being an older student comparatively is that I have a decent number of experiences that I can reflect on. I have been a leader in the Navy, albeit probably not the best leader, but it is a memory that I can look back on to analyze how I can become better. As I tend to look back on my past with twinges of regret, I would like to look on it as Annie Dillard does, “What a pretty pass”. The mountains I have climbed that I mentioned in week 13 will keep teaching me lessons years later, and I will only add to the mountains climbed as time goes on.