By Natalie Keltner-McNeil
As a leader at Berkeley High, I define leadership as the ability to assess a situation, interact with others, and take action to instill change. Yet, this is more a definition of a leader in one situation. Sustained leadership, according to an article on Business Insider, is more about personality traits and awareness of the people you are leading or trying to influence. The article states that great leaders are emotionally stable and agreeable, demonstrate integrity and good morals, and are receptive and react to the emotions of others (Lebowitz). I agree with the article’s argument, as I believe the key to effective leadership is to be held in high esteem by the people you are leading. You can gain people’s respect by listening to the demands of others and incorporating them into your plans through collaboration. You can gain people’s trust by exhibiting high morals, including integrity and honesty. Thus, I believe a leader’s main job is listening to the people they are leading, and combining their ideas to produce progress or solutions to the situation addressed.
I learned these ideas when I went on a student study abroad program to Nicaragua. Fourteen students and I had the task of decorating the interior play square of a new preschool building for local disabled children in the city of Esteli. During the first planning sessions we had, everyone held aggressively to their own beliefs for how to design the play space, and nothing was accomplished besides the cultivation of anger. We then had a discussion on our behavior, and went into the next brainstorm with the intent of collaborating and respecting others. We listened to one another and built off each other’s ideas, and had a very productive meeting. We split into small groups, and I was in the painter’s group, which was in charge of painting a mural. Even though I wanted my own ideas to be painted, I held back and listened to the ideas of others, which I learned were just as good as mine. By incorporating everyone’s ideas on the pieces, the mural turned out beautiful, and everyone was proud of it.
This year, I learned that it is hard to please our grade when it comes to making decisions surrounding prom. This is true because we have many assertive, leader personalities who want their opinions heard and considered, and some of these people don’t understand we have to make compromises, and that some decisions are out of our control. This happens in any group environment outside of school. My observations mainly took place inside the leadership room, where deputies told us of the opinions of their classmates surrounding prom, and also my observations on the senior class page surrounding prom. People liked to denounce ideas more than share their own. These observations showed me that leadership is about compromising and understanding your degree of control in that situation, and making sure you communicate clearly with others who are affected by your decisions.