As you will see, Taylor Swift is a recurring theme throughout my portfolio. In this course, we read and analyzed John P. Dugan’s text “Leadership Theory: Cultivating Critical Perspectives” to gain a comprehensive understanding of twenty different leadership theories, develop deconstruction and reconstruction tools that acknowledge and ameliorate systemic issues within the theories, and advance society toward a more just world. This assignment required us to integrate the theories that resonated with us most into our own models of leadership to represent who we are, or who we want to be, as leaders. I loved this assignment because it allowed me to be creative, which I did by making all of my leadership applications relate to each of Taylor Swift’s ten studio albums. 

With each album assigned to a leadership theory through a diligent, educated process- simply associating the vibes of the theories with the music- I included a lyric from the respective album that I felt represented my main takeaway of the theory. My model has two pathways that stem from the methodical, purposeful album folklore- “to live for the hope of it all.” Eventually, these leadership approaches lead to closure and change summarized by a quote from the album Midnights: “Sweet like justice.”

Although one who does not identify as a Swiftie may not find my model as significant or relatable, because I was able to truly make this assignment my own, it helped me engage deeper with the assignment and value it more; it wasn’t just something I had to do, it was something I wanted to do. The albums serve as a surface-level guide for navigating the theories in my model, but they do not represent my learning itself. Throughout the quarter, I’ve learned that my leadership style prioritizes emotional, situational, and social-based theories. I like making people feel valued, heard, represented, and comfortable enough to advocate for improvement. We shouldn’t be complicit in things that could be better, and larger scale social change is more attainable if we prioritize it on an interpersonal level first. That’s what my leadership model represents.