Attitude reflects leadership

So I’m going to write a two-part post, the first part being a general rant on leadership, and the second part being what makes a good leader.

I had been thinking about leadership the last couple days, but I was inspired when I saw a quote on a church advertisement:

“It is a struggle to get children to listen to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.”

I’ll come back to that quote later.

Leadership seems like a very elusive issue, every environment I’ve ever gone through including groups I was in charge of, like old jobs, sports teams, service organizations, always, always seems to lack good leadership. This is probably because being a good leader is 99% non-glamorous work that nobody will notice.

And of course, a situation with good leaders is different from a situation with big ego’s, which I’ve definitely contributed to. When you just want to see your vision carried out rather than accomplish the actual mission of the group, it’s easy just to mash together some big ego’s.

The times I have been in a situation with good leadership it just felt like the group just had a better sense of direction and actually accomplished something, rather than functioning aimlessly.

I’ve read so much about how good leaders assert themselves by being useful or likeable or needed rather than because they simply want to lead. I always resented that I wanted to be a good leader, since it felt powerhungry and selfish. But I'm starting to realize that's just a part of who I am, and as I learn more about embracing every part of myself, I'm accepting that I will always want to be in a leadership role.

So, before I get back to the quote I wanted to mention a scene from the epic movie “Remember the Titans”. The movie takes place during the civil rights movement, and describes a black school being integrated into a white school, and the challenges involved in bringing together a football team of black and white players. There’s a scene where the white captain is furious at the black captain for not being a team player. The black captain, bringing up a situation in which the white captain didn’t stand up for the black players replies, “Attitude reflects leadership, captain.”

Ever since I heard that quote, it’s really stuck with me. That first quote from the church reflects that same idea. Whatever atmosphere the leaders of any team create, is the same attitude that is followed by the rest of the crowd.

I saw this quote in action during my time with Kenyon Cross Country. In my sophomore and junior years , we had an incredibly serious, success-driven team that had some of the fastest runners I ever had the chance to train with.

Then, my senior year when I was a captain, we had a much more laid back atmosphere focused on bringing people together through running, rather than having a group of people that are focused on running.

Very different feels, and I think the difference had a lot to do with the leadership that was driving those teams. The first two years had incredibly talented and hard-working captains that set school records and ran at nationals, whereas my senior year I was burnt out on running and wanted to focus on cultivating friendships.

Even though I knew these quotes and I was consciously trying to change the atmosphere of the team, I was still pleasantly surprised at what a drastic change the team feel went through. That’s what a good leader can do, I guess.

from ken

Are you trying to change your life? I'd love to hear about it! ken.e.noguchi@gmail.com

photo by dynamosquito