Leadership. What is it? What does it mean? What does it look like? The first known use of the word was in 1765, so the idea and topic of leadership has been around for centuries.  Merriam Webster’s Dictionary defines leadership as: 1. the office or position of a leader; 2. capacity to lead; 3. the act or an instance of leading.

If you’re interested in leadership concepts and learning more about how to become a leader, I’d like to introduce you to Ready to Lead: The InLLA Leadership Toolkit. The toolkit will contain webinars, a recording, videos and other resources about leadership and preparing for leadership. To get a sneak peek of what you might find in the toolkit, we are excited to host the following leadership webinars in April:

• Servant Leadership – April 12^th 11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. EST. Connie Scott, director, McMillen Library at Indiana Tech. Connie will talk about servant leadership, which means you’re a ‘servant’ first. Servant Leaders focus on the needs of others, especially team members and staff before your own needs.
• Leadership vs. Management – April 20^th 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. EST. Michelle Bradley, manager, Member Engagement Midwest Collaborative for Library Services (MCLS). Michelle will talk about differences between management and leadership. Many times we confuse leadership with management principles. This webinar will cover the difference between the two.

This blog post was written by Kimberly Brown-Harden, northwest regional coordinator, Indiana State Library. For more information, email Kim at kbrown-harden@library.in.gov