You Can't Stand for Something if You Don't Stand Up for Yourself

Self-Awareness is a superpower, and only some understand the importance of this concept. Developing Human Capital is a course Dr. Claire Muselman taught in the Drake University Zimpleman College of Business MBA/MPA program during the Summer of 2022, where Master's program students explored how to harness the energy, power, and belief in their people and within themselves. This course transformed into an initiative with the Broadlawns Medical Center Social Workers and is now a year-long developmental training for 2023, pouring into those who do so much for others.?

Why does this matter? When looking at the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, these concepts touch each one. Understanding who you are, how you show up, and how you are perceived are superpowers to assist in building community, using influence to cultivate change, and instigating game-changing mechanisms to further social impact and responsibility worldwide. Learning and applying behaviors affiliated with self-leadership and self-efficacy can further articulate an understanding of the poverty cycle to brainstorm more immediate and localized forms of eradication to help with poverty in its forms everywhere. (Goal 1 - End poverty in all its forms everywhere.)

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Self-awareness and leadership styles play a significant role in social impact because people cannot help others if they cannot harness the strengths within themselves. Aside from cultivating awareness of these strengths, people need assistance learning how to maximize their strengths to provide a better impact in their immediate community, servicing needs for themselves and others along the way.?(Goal 4 - Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote life long learning opportunities for all.)

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Self-confidence, executive presence, and learning to be unapologetic to push initiatives forward, such as equality for women and girls (Goal 5 - Achieve gender equality and empower all women & girls.), need to be at the forefront of education, causing one another to grow. While it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a community to help one another grow. Growth applies to furthering women's rights, empowerment, and equality and to the United Nations' goal of full and productive employment and decent work for all. (Goal 8 - Promote sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all.)

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It is common knowledge that people born with privilege have more opportunities. People not born with privilege must learn to search, discover, and fight for opportunity. Starting from the point of accurate self-awareness is the baseline to foster this mental shift into creating a community from a growth mindset and a change in socialization we have previously seen. Is there a way to cross-pollinate these groups to encourage communities in cities and human settlements to further inclusivity, safety, increased resiliency, and cultivate sustainable outcomes? (Goal 11 - Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable.)

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Creating foundations of education built around self-confidence, self-leadership, self-awareness, and overall human understanding can foster a learning dynamic rooted in inclusion and quality education, promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all (Goal 4). By taking human capital development to the next step, fostering awareness where there historically has been none can be the start of ensuring healthy lives for all and can promote well-being for all at all ages. (Goal 3 - Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all, at all ages.)

Dr. Muselman will present this topic on Thursday, March 2, 2023, at the Drake University Global Citizen Forum at the Social Impact Showcase beginning at 4:00 pm. For more details on this presentation and the other fabulous presenters, visit: https://www.drake.edu/acadsuccess/engagedcitizenexperience/globalcitizenforum/presenters/