Notes

Define leadership, and describe the kind of leader you are.

  One thing I have learned in both my academic and professional career, as well as my personal experiences, is that… People need people. Even if they don’t believe they do. And in today’s world? People need hope. They need passion. They need a vision to hold onto.  

It is true that people need people, and even more, people need people who are leaders. People need people who can help lead them to a better life, people who are empathetic, and passionate - willing to listen to their problems, understand their situation, and help them overcome and achieve their goals. People need people who are willing to lead by example - by getting deep in the dirty pit with them and being right there to build the ladder that leads to getting out.

People need leaders to help direct them, to guide them and help them grow and become everything they have the potential to be. People need visionaries, and restorers, and encouragers. People who dare - the dreamers, thinkers and doers. They need teachers and guides, nurturers and empaths.

But that’s the very thing, in my mind. More so do leaders need people, than people need leaders. Not so they have a way to boost themselves - their egos, or self importance - but because without people, leaders are nothing.

Without people, leaders have no purpose. No means to be and do what they were meant to, no way to accomplish or achieve what they set out to do. No man is an island, and the idea of leadership should emulate that concept.

There is no single person on this earth than can exhibit all of the qualities I listed above. That is why leaders should recognize and emphasize the strengths of those they lead. Leaders need to recognize people as potential leaders, not just followers, and let them lead in the qualities and strengths they offer. A group, be it for a project, a club, a sport - they are a team. They may have a leader, a captain, but without everyone involved, they are nothing.

For me, a leader is someone who has vision and direction, but more so, effective communication. Someone who makes an effort to scout ahead and see the best, most beneficial path for the team and their end goal. Yet, also taking into account the team, and their insight to reach that same goal, and then is willing to use discernment and make the hard decisions that will ultimately lead everyone to success.
That leader is someone who is capable of keeping the mission, vision, and passion alive - rallying the team and helping them understand where they are going, and how to get there - simultaneously trusting them to have the ability and intelligence to help each other reach the ultimate goal.

Meanwhile, they as a leader conceptually go to the end of the line - as to lead and support the line - and help keep the line in order and on the best path for them at their foundational core. Sometimes that means corralling people that stray from the path, sometimes that means listening to their reasoning and altering the course to better succeed, sometimes that means making difficult decisions and letting people go as to not lose progress, and sometimes that means returning to the front to face the hardest parts of the journey.

A leader is someone who creates leaders, and follows the successes of those leaders, supporting them at their foundation, being there to lean or fall back on - Not someone who totes their place and position at the front of the line, staying at the front of the line, choosing arrogance and ignorance to everyone who struggles or falls behind them.

To use religious context, Jesus didn’t make disciples only to follow Him and never do anything. Jesus made disciples so that they would one day build the church, and lead by example. Pastors aren’t meant to be leaders so everyone just follows him without reason, but so he can help lead them to Jesus, and they can lead others to Jesus too.

Most importantly, out of all the traits and characteristics of a leader defined above, I would personally say the most important and effective quality that a leader should have is the awareness of his own humanity. Too often I see leaders in roles and positions that have allowed those roles and positions to go to their head, giving them a superiority and even God complex.

A leader should recognize their own humanity, and recognize less so the title they have as leader, but more so the responsibility and power that comes with being a leader. They should be able to stay on top of both their strengths and weaknesses, evaluating themselves maturely and being willing to take feedback from others, and adjust if they are performing poorly (however, they should also have the confidence and discernment not to bend or break according to negative or even positive feedback - only adjust in appropriate, needed ways, without compromising their position or morals/values as a leader).

And again, they need to recognize the strengths and intelligence and talents of those who chose to follow them. Emphasize and cultivate those traits, let them shine where they can and help everyone effectively - don’t see it, or the individuals, as a threat to power, position, or authority. A leader is a human and a guide, not a dictator. There are always ways they can improve, ways they can learn from those they lead, ways they can be assisted and lead just as much as they assist and lead. Humility is the highest virtue an effective leader can, should, and must have.

In short, leadership is one’s humanity at its core form. Humanity in understanding, awareness, humility, empathy - A person for the people. Leaders are the order keepers, the communicators, the foundations on which to build and grow. They are needed, they do have roles and they are important - but they recognize that their role, ultimately, is to create strong, intelligent, capable leaders - not mindless followers - and the people they lead are individual humans who bring as much to the table as they do. It’s just that they may not know their own potential yet, and it’s the leader’s job to help them recognize and utilize that potential.

And that is the kind of leader I strive to be. I recognize in the chapter office roles of Phi Theta Kappa, no individual is higher or more important than the other (in the sense of roles and ranks of leadership, particularly) - but I believe that conceptual mindset should be adapted and adopted to leadership as a whole. Leadership isn’t a title, it’s an honor, opportunity, and very delicate responsibility that should not be taken lightly. Leadership isn’t meant to be a status, promoting you on top of the mountain, but is instead a job meant to help everyone else reach the top of the mountain you envision for them.

No matter if it’s with Phi Theta Kappa, OTC, Work, Honors, or any other position I am ever a leader in - I always want to be a leader of humanity, and humility. Someone who never loses sight of the importance and responsibility of that role, or the people in her charge. I want to spend my life reaching the top as I help others reach the top, not because I ran ahead and am now above the world. People have so much to give and offer in this world - so much potential and strength. I hope to help them recognize and utilize that strength as effective leaders, themselves. That is my biggest goal in life.