The word “selfie” has been declared the Word Of The Year for 2013 by Oxford Dictionaries.
I am simply reporting that as news. I’m not sure if it’s good news.
The BBC reports it this way…
To qualify, a word need not have been coined within the past 12 months, but it does need to have become prominent or notable in that time. “Selfie” is defined by Oxford Dictionaries as “a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website”.
Bolstered by social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and especially, Instagram, the #selfie phenomenon is creating a collage of self-portraits. It’s never been easier to capture yourself in the moment and share it with the world.
The tools are easily at our disposal. We have cameras on our phones that we can point at our faces and see what we’re shooting. If you don’t like what you look like you can delete and try again. Or you can apply a filter to make the pretty parts prettier and the not-so-pretty parts…blurrier or grainier or…well…so many options.
I’m not necessarily down on the selfie. It’s actually a good substitute if you can’t find a mirror and you want to see if you still have a bit of popcorn in your teeth.
In fact, when it comes to evaluating your own leadership, I think it’s a good idea to take a selfie every once in awhile.
A leadership selfie is when you stop and take some time to see where you’re at. It’s self-evaluation.
I’ve created a tool called the Student Leader Check-Up. It contains a bunch of questions you can use to evaluate how things are going in your leadership world. It will help you see how far you’ve come. It will also help you identify the growing points in your leadership year.
- Where can you improve your people skills?
- Do you have a positive outlook?
- How can you improve your self-discipline?
Plus a lot more.
Maybe I should rename this document The Student Leader Selfie.
Take the time to walk through it and reflect on the questions. It will give you a snapshot of where you’re at. Then you’ll need to decide if you’re willing to take what you learn and share it with the world. I mean…that’s why we take selfies in the first place…right?
Download The Student Leader Check-Up (PDF)
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