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The #IlliniLeader's Digest
A digital space for ILC stakeholders to learn and voice their perspectives about leadership...

blog posts

  • Lighthouse

    The Optimistic Leader: How to stay resilient in the face of adversity

    In this blog, we explore the powerful connection between optimism and resilience in leadership. Discover how a positive outlook can help you overcome obstacles and inspire those around you, ultimately leading to greater success and fulfillment in both your personal and professional life.

  • team foxcatcher

    What Can Bad Leadership Lead to?

    The movie Team Foxcatcher (2016) is a perfect example of how multi-faceted ethical leadership issues can be. The story shows what bad leadership can do to subordinates and how maybe the leader isn't the only person to blame for the end result.

  • Leadership photo

    6 Tips for Successfully Leading a Team

    Leading a team can be intimidating, so here are six tips to help you the next time you are tasked to lead a team.

  • self

    Self Leadership

    This post explains the importance of self-leadership and goes into some topics regarding self-leadership. 

  • 2020

    My Time at the ILC

    This post is a student employee reflection on her time at Illinois and working at the Illinois Leadership Center. 

  • virtual

    How to be a Leader in a Virtual Setting

    This post elaborates on a few strategies that students can implement in order to become a leader in a virtual setting. 

  • virtual setting

    Unmute, Speak, and Lead

    In a world stuck between virtual and in-person programming, our leadership skills need to encompass both settings. This article discusses one way you can be a leader in a virtual setting.

  • president

    Leadership Lessons from President Zelensky

    Leadership lessons from President Zelensky we can apply in our daily lives.

  • virtual leadership

    How to be a Leader in a Virtual Setting

    This post is about the tools you will need as a leader online, and how to work on the skills you are confident in to succeed in a virtual environment.

  • Advice for someone entering a leadership role for the first time

    This post gives some advice on starting your first leadership role and how to be successful in the role. 

  • Stepping into a Leadership Position for the First Time

    This post explores how shedding the stereotypical perception of a leader as a commander and stepping into the role of a facilitator can help build trust and increase group productivity when stepping into a leadership position for the first time. 

  • When Opportunity Knocks 

    This post talks about how to build your own personal leadership style and the benefits that can come from it. This post also gives advice on ways to improve your leadership and be a better leader to others in many different scenarios of life. 

  • Becoming an Effective Leader in your first leadership position

    This post provides insightful advice on how to be a confident and effective leader in your first leadership position.

  • The Importance of Networking

    This post goes into detail on the importance of networking and some benefits of it. 

  • The Importance of Sustainable Leadership

    This post highlights why being a sustainable leader in today’s climate is important. The author challenges the reader to explore sustainable practices and try to implement them in their daily lives as well as their leadership roles.

  • Team Mentors & Team Members: How a Team Excels

    This post talks about how important team members and team mentors are to an entire team. The post explains the importance of each role and effective ways to go about them. 

  • Leading by Creativity

    This post goes into detail on one of the most important soft skills for a leader to have: creativity! Creativity helps leaders with problem-solving, communication, and team building. 

  • Reflections on the past semester: the progress we have made

    This post reflects on the past semester and all the progress we have made from the start till now. It also emphasizes the importance of your accomplishments and future goals you may set for yourself.

  • Ways to Relieve Stress

    This post shares some ways to help relieve some stress. With the start of a new semester, it's always important to find ways to calm our stressors and still remain calm during all the chaos that is to come. 

  • stress

    How to stay (sorta) stress-free in college

    This post shares some ways to help relieve stress in your life. With the end of the semester quickly approaching, this is a great post that gives some tips on ways to help handle the stress in your life!

  • reflection

    Why reflection is important in a leadership role

    This post talks about the importance of reflection and how it is important for leaders and teams to practice reflection. 

  • openness

    The importance of practicing openness today’s society

    This post talks about the importance of openness and shares how the importance of practicing openness will be impactful in both your professional and personal life. 

  • The Importance of Developing a Community Perspective

    This post talks about the importance of community and volunteering within your own community. The post shares a bit more about how to develop leadership skills through helping out your community. 

  • How My Involvement With The Illinois Leadership Center Transformed My Life

    This post talks a bit about the importance the ILC has had on one of our own employee's college experiences. She shares how she got involved with the ILC and where that has gotten her today as she is finishing her time here at the University of Illinois. 

  • Recognizing my Strengths as a Leader

    This post talks about the experience of a Ph.D. student and how the ILC has influenced her journey. Through all the resources offered, she has been able to recognize her strengths as a leader. 

  • leadership

    The Influence of the ILC's Workshops on my Leadership Journey

    This post talks about the experience of a fellow student throughout her time on campus and how the workshops helped with her leadership development today. 

  • inspo

    Tips to Develop Yourself Over Summer

    This post gives 5 tips on ways to develop yourself over the summer. Summer gives us the opportunity to develop ourselves as we get a break after the long, hectic school year. There are many ways to help develop yourself this summer, but these are just 5 examples. 

  • lightbulb

    Innovation in Leadership

    This post goes into details on Innovation in leadership. It describes what innovation is and ways to embrace innovation in leadership and in our daily lives. 

  • Innovation and Leadership

    This post talks about innovation and the impacts it has on leadership. Innovation helps start trendsetters and conversation starters for leaders. It is important to recognize the impact innovation has on leaders. 

  • empathy

    Empathy

    This post starts by comparing empathy to shoes, displaying a metaphor for being the listener for someone's story. This post also shares a comparison and a way to think of empathy in a different way. 

  • science and leadership

    Undertaking the Leadership Certificate with a Science PhD

    This post shares the experience of a Ph.D. student who also took on the Leadership Certificate Program, offered at the ILC. He talks about his experience, why he decided to do it, and the benefits that came out of the program for him. 

  • group

    The Importance of Community to Leadership Practice

    This post explains the importance of community in leadership and guides you through different ways to be a leader in a community. 

  • lightbulb

    Sustainability in Leadership

    This post goes into depth on sustainability in leadership and emphasizes the importance of it. 

  • integrity 3

    What does it mean to be an ethical leader?

    This post shares ways to be an ethical leader and practice integrity as a leader in our every day. The author shares some personal stories as well on the topic of integrity.

  • integrity

    The Power of Integrity

    This post talks about power of integrity and what makes it so important in life and leadership. 

  • group

    The Shared "We"

    This post goes into detail on the importance of Common Purpose in Leadership and how practicing this competency will make you a great leader. 

  • leadershape

    How My Experience at The LeaderShape® Institute™ Shaped My Understanding of Social Justice

    The LeaderShape®  Institute™ was a great opportunity to learn more about social justice and hear from different viewpoints. My time at The LeaderShape®  Institute™  was very influential and I wanted to share how it helped my viewpoint of social justice. 

  • One Question to Answer Before Deciding Your Career Path

    Remember the saying that we all wanted to believe as kids? You can be anything you want to be when you grow up. One of the best ways to end up in the kind of career that earns you respect, recognition, success, and happiness is to do more of what you're good at.

    Click the title to read this article by Jessica Buono from Gallup with CliftonStrengths, one of the programs presented at the ILC!

  • human dignity

    Human Dignity in Leadership

    This post explains the importance of one of the ILC's competencies, human dignity, and how it is important in leadership. 

  • leadership

    The Role of Relationship Management in Leadership

    This post emphasizes the importance of relationship management in leadership. It goes into detail on ways to practice, understand, and learn from relationship management as a leader. 

  • women in leadership

    Why YOU should consider the Leadership Studies Minor

    This post explains more information on the Leadership Studies Minor and gives student perspectives on the minor itself. 

  • The Importance of Diversity in Leadership

    This post discusses the importance of diversity in concepts of leadership and areas of life. 

  • A Call to Action: Social Change in our Leadership

    This post goes into detail about what the Social Change Model of Leadership is and how we can use it in our every day lives with relation to leadership. 

  • girl with all the colors

    The Effectiveness of Emotional Intelligence in Leadership

    Since October is Emotional Intelligence Awareness Month, this post goes into detail on the importance of emotional intelligence and how to effectively use it in leadership. 

  • sunset encouraging picture

    The National Day of Encouragement- What is it?

    This post goes into depth on the National Day of Encouragement, a day that recognizes the importance of encouragement in our everyday lives. It'll go into more detail on the history, facts, and ways to increase the use of encouragement in your lives. 

  • Donaldson Gift to the Illinois Leadership Center Makes History

    The Illinois Leadership® Center (ILC) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has received the largest outright gift in the history of Student Affairs at Illinois with a $1.17 million gift from Jane and William (“Bill”) Donaldson.

  • Jump Start Your Career with Leadership

    This blog post highlights the importance of leadership and how it can positively influence your career readiness. Leadership is about constantly learning and to do this you must seek out experiences that will enhance your life design.

  • My Definition of Leadership

    I go into detail on what I believe is the true definition of leadership and how this reflects all the good leaders in our lives. I also give my perspective on the definition of leadership.

  • Challenges You Need To Encounter As A Leader

    Leaders have the power to control people to do what they want. However, being a leader is not easy. He or she needs to face many challenges to build a strong, healthy working relationship with employees.

  • What Actually Makes a Good Leader, May Not Be What You Think...

    We are always asked the question, "what makes a good leader?" Through all the different studies and approaches learned, I discovered what I believe makes a good leader and it may not be what you think.