Emerging Leaders Respond: Leadership
UNA-NCA’s inaugural cohort of Emerging Leaders tackle the topic of leadership.
Elisa Contreras, 8th Grade
The best qualities of a leader are found in my friend Rita Carrasco. She has overcome so many challenges in her life, and she has gone so far while still maintaining her optimistic view of life. Rita has been a great inspiration to me ever since we were in second grade. Even though she is only a few years older than I am, Rita is one of the most incredible people I know. The best qualities of a leader include decisiveness and courageousness. Leaders have to be able to make decisions that are often risky, and leaders have to design solutions to their problems that are innovative and creative. I have looked up to Rita since we were young. Despite the effects of having Rasmussen’s encephalitis, she has stayed strong and has been resilient. She chose to rise above her circumstances instead of becoming a victim.
Semilore Olatunde, College Senior
Sinclaire Ogof, College Freshman
While an effective and strategic leader may seem very different, in fact, they possess many of the same traits needed to be successful. Confidence in what you are doing, how you are doing it, and why you are doing it is essential. If you are not confident in yourself, others will not be confident in you. Communication is essential as a leader. You must be able to communicate with others to effectively lead and instruct and cooperate. One must also be a good role model. If you cannot lead by example, people will not trust you especially if you say one thing and do another. While these are just a few characteristics of a leader, confidence, communication, and being a good role model are some of the most needed skills when leading. Some great leaders I admire are the strong women who have helped humanity in some way. Whether that be American role models Ruth Bader Ginsburg or Michelle Obama or international heroes Malala Yousafzai or Greta Thunberg, these amazing women have contributed to our society in more ways than we realized. Without them our lives would be vastly different. Their impact is one we cannot measure nor is it one we should forget. As the famous quote says “Empowered women empower women” and I plan on living up to these ideals to continue empowering all women around me.
Alexios Eleftheriou, 8th Grade
An effective leader is someone who can captivate their followers. They can truly persuade others of their cause. Furthermore, an effective leader must be able to delegate duties and formulate a straightforward plan to achieve their goals. Similarly, a strategic leader is able to know who to become allies with, who to oppose, and who to support. They know how to organize their followers so as to effectuate their goals. A leader I admire is Theodore Roosevelt. He was able to abide by his moral values, regardless of political danger to them. For example, he abided by the precedent set by George Washington to only serve for two terms, even though he was certain he could have won a third term if he had pursued it. Moreover, he was willing to alter his beliefs according to his experiences. This allowed him to adopt more progressive policies that benefited the nation, rather than abiding by the laissez-faire doctrine he had originally believed in.
Stephanie Njeri, 12th Grade
An effective leader must be genuine and have true passion for the intended goal. A group can easily when the leader is ingenuine and only in it for the praise or money. A strategic leader looks for long-term and sustainable solutions to issues. They go beyond the present when steering the group’s actions. They also include the group in the decision-making process, rather than being a dictator and simply barking orders. I admire Joe Biden’s leadership (though I don’t agree with all his policies!). He has promoted cooperation and civility- a refreshing difference from the last administration. All these traits are what compose a good leader.
Nirvaan De Silva, 6th Grade
To me what makes someone an effective leader is their ability to bring out the best in the people around them. Being able to recognize the priorities and needs of the people they are leading is the basis of leadership. You don’t need to be the best at whatever you are doing to become a leader. You should be able to bring your group of people up when they are down, and reign them in and remind them to stay focused when things are going well and they start to get complacent. A strategic leader is a leader that is always planning ahead and giving his/her team the best chance of success. A strategic leader is also someone who realize that for example, one worker has been feeling down, so a strategic leader would give them something fun and stimulating work to make the worker better motivated to work. One leader I admire is Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln was a very good leader because he was able to motivate the country he was leading to fight for unity. In his many speeches he cast the Civil War as whether or not America would survive long as the Founding Fathers believed, or would they be torn apart. Lincoln knew that many of the would-be soldiers were passionate about their country and looked up to the Founding Fathers. By framing the war as whether America could live up to the Founding Fathers expectations he motivated the would-be soldiers to fight. After the Civil War he also let the Confederate soldiers keep their necessary such as weapons and horses. By being compassionate he helped save the country from further division. Lincoln was a very good leader and an extremely strategic leader.
Brayden Mahoney, College Junior
To be a leader seems like such a simple task, but we are in a period of time in which we are in desperate need of effective leaders to get us through these unprecedented times. In my opinion, an effective leader is someone who can not only get in front of a crowd and tell people what to do, but this person needs to be able to connect with people in a personal and compassionate manner. Over the past years, I believe that we have been missing leaders that lead with compassion, empathy, and an understanding of our common humanity. I mean, why have we been kicked to the curb throughout this whole pandemic while other nations around the world are helping their citizens in any way possible? That being said, there is more to a leader than being competent in those relationship-building skills. I think that a leader also needs to be strategic in their leadership. To be strategic, a leader must have a clear goal in mind with many possible avenues to take to in the event of a roadblock. One must have a balance of well-thought-out plans and spontaneity to be able to lead their followers in a calm and collected manner. Taking all of this into account, I admire leaders that lead with unapologetic compassion and empathy and I admire those who speak up for those who do not have as influential of a position to make change for good.
Pavani Durbhakula, 9th Grade
Maryam Abdul Sattar, College Senior
I think an effective leader is someone who knows how to empower others and become a voice for them. Someone who can be flexible and adapt to any circumstance. A leader should be able to communicate clearly and efficiently to those they are leading.
Someone who is both resolute and flexible, persistent in the face of setbacks but also able to react strategically to environmental shifts. They should possess the following six skills, anticipation, ability to challenge oneself, interpreting complex and conflicted information, aligning with others, and the ability to learn from their mistakes.
Mother Teresa- because she was able to communicate with different people of different cultures and empower them through her work.
My father — he was able to lead eight daughters by demonstrating proper behavior, encouraging creativity, and empowering those around him.
Martin Luther King, Jr. — he had a strong voice and used it to advocate for others. He led thousands of people in marches, protests, and other events. He was a positive influence on those around him.
Minako Furukawa, College Senior
I think there are a lot of factors that make people effective leaders. I especially consider that anyone somehow would be able to lead others while they are officially not in a leading position. I also personally prefer the style of strategic leadership to operational/tactical leadership which allows the only few persons to lead the other people and/or exists of extreme/exclusive authority that only a few people can actually enjoy. With that being said, I think inspiring people and making them/co-workers grow would be a great way to change current situations and solve problems; thus, the people who would enable the above become effective leaders regardless of their actual status in my understanding. Setting goals would be another important factor to be a good leader, especially those who can set goals with Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timed (SMART) will be effective leaders shortly. As shown above, “strategic” would be a keyword as well especially for being a strategic leader. First of all, strategic thinking makes it possible to incorporate both internal and external factors/environments. Similarly, strategic acting organizes related people (stakeholders) to the whole systems/structure with referring to effective strategic ideas. Finally, strategic influencing motivates people in general and allows everyone to join the movements for archiving the big goals. For making this process to be successful, defining clear vision and strategy would be significant, as well as continuously communicating with individuals is the most important part for making the achievement in my opinion. In the previous paragraphs, I have written the factors for being an effective leader and briefly explain about the meaning of being a strategic leader for me. I instead would like to describe the respected leader and the reasons why I admire from this point. In fact, there are many people/leaders who I respect; however, I would like to discuss Nelson Mandela in this paragraph. I respect him because his huge efforts enabled to end the apartheid, which segregates people by their skin tones and colors. This historic event inform us the discrimination would be going on while the majority of the population in the country with the oppressed groups (people of color in general for this case), but there is still a way to solve the gaps and issues with peaceful way. I do think this achievement should have a big impact not just the only in South Africa, but also all across the globe since racism and other forms of discrimination are still existed today’s society; however, the result of this event tells us people can make difference if they have enough compassion and cooperate for one another.
Filip Oroth, College Junior
I believe what makes an effective leader is primarily based on how someone can lead each and every person among the given group. With the variety of people, the leader has to focus on the given task at hand, while of course considering each person as an individual. Knowing each person with regards to their specialized field, expertise, knowledge in a given area and think of how to lead them so that the given goal, task or problem at hand is completed or solved in the most efficient way. In an efficient way, meaning that not only it may be completed in a timely manner, but also each person involved can get the best from themselves and hence take advantage of their skills or area of expertise. An effective leader is most likely someone, who can find the positive aspects of a person and encourage them to use those strengths for the given goal, solution or the problem. This will most likely be a positive action for the person and hence most likely bring the best from them. It really depends how both types of leaders are seen, however it is rather better to distinguish both, as an effective leader and a strategic leader, since a person does not necessarily have to be both in a given moment. A person is able to switch between both, but most likely in a given moment has to choose one or the other, based on how they prioritize. One may be more focused on the given goal, while the other focuses on the process leading to the goal, which ultimately both events can influence each other, however each takes a different approach. A strategic leader may search for ways that can lead to the goal, despite the process not being as efficient but yet strategically it may be the best option due to the events that will follow up, for instance. Both however have to really consider their stakeholders and how to lead the people, which are either directly or indirectly affiliated with that specific situation. The leaders that I admire are quite a few and from different fields, however to point out, I think these leaders share/shared qualities and values that I certainly look up to: Steve Jobs, Oprah, Nikola Tesla, to name a few.
Andrea Terrones, College Sophomore
An effective leader is not someone who has a powerful title or position, a leader is someone who has grit and determination. A leader is someone who uplifts the voices of the represented and underrepresented, she is not the voice of the voiceless, rather provides a platform for everyone to advocate for themselves. When I was younger I believed a leader was an individual who was popular, a person who led others and shaped movements. Though I still believe a leader characterizes movements and similar occurrences, I have come to learn that a leader is not always the most popular but the most passionate. As I’ve participated in several high school organizations and clubs my peers bragged about their leadership positions, but their actions and work in the actual club did not portray their leadership abilities they claimed to have. This is why I believe a leader is more than a title, in order to be a leader you have to involve your community and create an inclusive environment in whatever you’re pursuing. It was because of individuals who claimed to be leaders, when they weren’t, that I learned what it took to be an effective leader. To put it simply, I learned that if I were to ever call myself a leader I had to look out for others, not just myself. I think when someone is an effective leader they are able to gather a community and educate them and fight for issues that affect them all. A strategic leader knows all the relevant information about those in their community and what they are fighting for. In my student government we have different offices, and in each office we have different directors. One of our Fund the UC Directors is such an effective leader because she is able to lead a campaign effectively. She did this by going to different committees and undergraduate organizations and speaking on the campaign and campaign goals. She was able to gather a pretty large group of supporters because she was strategic in what she talked about and how she connected that information to her audience. She was also able to host events and bring in other voices in the community that were considered large stakeholders, like campus administration and student speakers directly affected by the campaign. I admire her work because she led an entire campaign like a true leader, with the community right next to her. She didn’t have a conceited attitude and never made anyone feel ashamed for not knowing certain information. I aspire to lead like her, compassionately and kindly.
Alexandria Perez, College Sophomore
A leader is someone that dares to act. A leader uses the qualities of their followers to enact positive change. An effective leader has compassion. Leadership is often misunderstood as who can accomplish the most or be the most efficient worker; this leaves out so much humanity. Leadership should be understood as the ability to possess empathy and enact positive change. I greatly admire Senator Ed Markey; his progressive leadership style is all about creating and maintaining equity. To do so, he has uplifted those who are often marginalized through direct action and personal accountability. Furthermore, his co-authorship of the Green New Deal shows the courage to create a better future for all. Leaders must do so much more than taking initiative but fostering the so important community that enables positive change.
Jordan Webb, College Junior
“I am most moved by leaders who are motivated by the desire to serve others. It is not an overstatement to say that humility is one of the most important qualities needed to lead today. Without developing a sense of compassion for others, one can never have an impact on society or accomplish any transformational change without first understanding their purpose in helping others”
