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Semester in Review – Being a Quiet Leader
Throughout this semester in the Humphrey Fellowship I have learned about leadership in multiple contexts. From leadership styles, to servant leadership, to inspiring leaders it has been crazy to see how many actual approaches to leadership there are. Everyone has a different definition of leadership. Everyone has a different style of leadership. Then there are people who doubt that they have what it takes to be a leader.
I felt like I fell somewhere into the spectrum of the followers. I am more shy than most people, I’m introverted, and I really don’t like to be the outspoken character in group interactions. From what I understood about leadership at the beginning of the semester I was not on the path to being a great leader.
But through working on our final leadership paper I found this quote from the Tao Te Ching (chapter 17):
The best leaders are those the people hardly know exist.
The next best is a leader who is loved and praised.
Next comes the one who is feared.
The worst one is the leader that is despised.
If you don’t trust the people,
they will become untrustworthy.
The best leaders value their words, and use them sparingly.
When she has accomplished her task,
the people say, “Amazing:
we did it, all by ourselves!”
This quote was really inspiring to me as an introvert. Here are the lessons i took from it:
- The best leaders are those who lead from the background – this means that a good leader isn’t in front trying to take all the credit, but is someone who is pushing their team into the spotlight and allowing them to be successful.
- The best leaders are those who trust their team – a good leader will have faith in his or her team to accomplish tasks. The leader shouldn’t have to micromanage and do everything for a team to have success.
- The best leaders use words effectively – quiet people can be leaders! It’s not the amount of things that one has to say, but it is more about how valuable those words are that matters.
Graduation Program
The program from the Humphrey Graduation this past Wednesday is live on the Project Thrive site, but I wanted to share it with all of you as well! Here is a link to a PDF version of the program. A big thank you to Kristi for the content and organization, Julia Tylor for the tree design, Molly Brush for the editing, and the Cronkite School’s graphic designer, Linda Davis (she did an amazing job tying the Project Thrive theme into the design of the program)!
Cronkite Humphrey Graduation Program
One last thought… This might be a little cliché (okay, definitely is… I’m sorry, I had to), but Vitamin C’s Graduation Song has yet to be shared on the blog. This is for both the Humphrey Fellows and our graduating attachés! Congratulations!
More leadership advice
I sent out several emails to some of my role models in the broadcast industry, particularly in the Phoenix market, for our leadership styles analysis paper. Some are still getting back to me, and a couple of days ago one of my biggest Valley role models responded.
I actually Facebooked Kristin Anderson, one of the anchors and reporters for KSAZ Fox 10 Arizona Morning. She has a heavy social media presence, both on Facebook and Twitter, and I knew I would be able to best reach her this way. When I interned at Fox 10 last spring, she was a friendly presence both in the newsroom and in the field, and I was lucky to shadow her in the field many times. She was a willing leader, and stepped into the role of mentor easily. Kristin had nothing but encouraging and positive words of advice, and thanks to social media I’ve been able to keep in touch with her as she continues to establish herself in Phoenix (she arrived to Arizona Morning in Fall 2010).
My questions for the journalism leaders I interviewed included:
-Who were some of your earliest role models in the industry and out of it?
-How do you define leadership in this industry?
-And what leadership roles have you taken on in the community and in the newsroom?
Kristin is a good example of both a journalism and community leader, and I think I look to her because I am able to relate to her in a variety of ways. Her response to my first question was similar to what mine would have been. She said her dad was her earliest role model, because growing up he made her feel like she could do anything she wanted to do and let her know that she was capable of it, as well. My dad provided this encouragement for me, as well, and as a journalism leader in his own right, showed me that it was possible to go as far as I wanted to when I set my mind to it. These thoughts, in my mind, mirror much of what our goal was in the Legacy Project. We set out to become role models in a way with this project, and I believe we have created something extraordinary that will set the tone for next year’s project, too.
When I asked Kristin about what it means to be a leader in journalism, she responded with the following: “…someone who sets a positive standard professionally and interpersonally. A leader is someone with fresh ideas and continually evolving, always getting better.” This made me think of our setting examples at various events, including the Farm Days event, where we set out to set a positive standard and create a good experience for the children we were volunteering for and with. I agree, too, that a leader is someone with “fresh ideas,” and this brought me back to our Films Presentations, where many groups presented their films in an original way. I particularly think of the School of Rock group, who were well organized and prepared to lead us through their film and its meaning to our particular context.
Lastly, Kristin said that she is fortunate enough to hold a number of leadership roles in the community, but that her favorite is being a mentor to women in the television industry. Having worked with her, I can safely say that she is passionate about her mentorship role, and I think a lot of what I learned about leadership in the newsroom came from working with Kristin and the other strong females in the Fox 10 Arizona Morning newsroom. Likewise, I think this is an important role we can all play in one way or another having taken this class. We learned a lot about leadership from each other and from our own experiences in the Legacy Project and our volunteer projects. These lessons are vital, in my opinion, to our sense of self and our leadership styles.
So I pose the above questions to all of you: what does a journalism leader look like, both in and outside of the newsroom? And what do you think was the most valuable leadership lesson you learned this semester?
It’s been a privilege working with all of you! Thank you for a fantastic semester!
Sources:
Facebook interview with Kristin Anderson. 26 April 2012.
The semester in review through photos found on Annie’s iPhone
Wednesday marked the end of our journey.
For the Fellows, this is the end of a 10-month long stay, and for the attachés, it marks the end of a wonderful semester with wonderful people. I can safely speak for each of the attachés when I say that we are forever grateful for the experiences and opportunities of meeting and working with the Fellows, as well as being able to call them our friends. It is guaranteed that we will all miss each one of you very, very much. With that being said, below is the semester in review through photos I found on my iPhone.
Best of luck to each of the Fellows as some embark on another leg of their journey to their professional affiliations, while others head back to their homes around the world. Thank you again for a great semester.
Amy’s Leadership Style
Servant leadership has been the theme of this semester. Peter G. Northouse defines servant leadership in his book Leadership: Theory and Practice. Hopefully, this quote can help everyone be the leaders they want to be. It has definitely helped me understand what servant leadership is and how I can apply it to my life: “Servant leadership argues unabashedly that leaders should put followers first, share control with followers, and embrace their growth” (Northhouse 234).
Over the semester we’ve learned that serving our community and using teamwork are important parts of learning how to lead. However, it took me until the end to really learn that being a leader shouldn’t be completely selfish. It isn’t about just learning what qualities make a good leader, but it’s about having awareness of the people around you and your impact on them.
The leadership lessons that I’ve been able to apply to my life this semester come from many places; however, Abraham Lincoln has taught me the most in the book Lincoln on Leadership Donald T. Phillips.
Have patience
Embrace your weaknesses
Be fearless
Have trust and confidence in your subordinates
Through these characteristics I’ve embraced, I’ve been able to improve my life and never take for granted the people who surround and support me. The overarching theme of leadership, is teamwork. Without it, a leader really doesn’t have a job to do. Leadership is all about being an efficient, unselfish, encouraging and inspiring team member. Acting as a team member, not a ruler, is the most effective way of leading.
In conclusion, my favorite quote that sums up how essential it is to always consider yourself as part of team comes from Abraham Lincoln: “A house divided against itself cannot stand…Our cause must be intrusted to, and conducted by its own undoubted friends – whose hands are free, whose hearts are in the work – who do care for the result” (Abraham Lincoln, A House Divided Speech 1858).
My leadership styles: an ongoing journey
During my time in the Humphrey Seminar, I learned about myriad leadership styles, some of which resonated with me, and others that did not. I found overall that most of the styles that most struck me fell under the umbrella of servant leadership, which was also our overarching theme this semester.
Per Lewin’s leadership styles, I find myself to be walking the line between the authoritative and participative leadership styles. During our various group efforts this semester, both the films presentations and the Legacy Project, I found I walked more on the side of the authoritative style. This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, in my opinion, especially when I had to serve as one of the content managers in the Legacy Project. However, as we got deeper into the project, I tried to work more on my participative leadership skills…this is not always easy, though, and the style I plan to work on the most.
As I previously said, though, so much of what I learned about leadership this semester and so much of what I know from my own life experience falls under the category of “servant leadership.” I became particularly aware of this while serving with the Fellows and attachés at various projects this semester, in particular the orange picking and farm days events that I was able to attend. At the latter event, we served children in need, who would not have been able to experience the sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and all around farm experience without us. This, to me, is the true definition of servant leadership, and one that I feel ties in well with the purpose of journalism, as well. We must always strive to “give voice to the voiceless,” and serve others in a humble and genuine way. Perhaps it is my 12 plus years of Catholic education, or my dad’s example, but I find that in serving others in one way or another, we become natural leaders by filling a void.
I mentioned my dad’s theory on leadership, both in journalism and in general, in my presentation, and I want to reiterate it here. One of the questions I asked my journalism leaders was, “How do you define leadership in the industry and in your own life?” My dad responded that a leader is “any individual who strives for excellence, but more importantly is also concerned with making a difference in their community and across the nation.” I think this is a good definition of leadership to live by. It is good to have styles of leadership to follow and live up to, but ultimately we cannot study leadership and must learn it through our own actions, by trial and error.
Sources:
Sansom, Graham. “Leadership Style.” Powerpoint Presentation. 19 April 2012. http://www.clg.uts.edu.au/pdfs/LGAQLeadershipStyle.pdf
Email interview with Patrick Porter.
A Legacy of Leadership
NFL safety Brian Dawkins retired on Monday. If you don’t follow sports you may never have heard the name. He wasn’t flashy. He was never the face of a franchise. He didn’t have the big endorsement deals. But he was as intense and passionate as any player that has ever played the game of football. What’s even more impressive about Dawkins was this headline that I found, written shortly after his retirement.
He will be remembered for LEADERSHIP.
In an ego driven league, where numbers literally define whether a player is a success or a failure, this is remarkable. It could have been easy to look at the 26 sacks, 37 forced fumbles, 37 interceptions, and 1131 tackles to summarize who Brian Dawkins was. But that’s not the focus of the article. Dawkins was a leader.
He exuded balance, an essential tool to leadership. As the article accurately describes…
“He led by example, but wasn’t afraid to speak up when necessary.”
I had the pleasure of getting to watch Dawkins play in the prime of his career, and I was amazed at the way his intensity fired up his teammates.
“even the people who saw him on television sometimes, while living in Yuma or Utah or Yukon, and saw the way he could simultaneously unite one team while dismembering the other” – Rich Hofmann, Philly.com columnist
I’m glad to see someone from the NFL being remembered for more than just big hits, touchdowns, and wins. Leadership is just as essential to being a success.
Will France’s Mr Normale balance on austerity?
Aleksandra Dukovska
Francois Hollande won Presidential election in France with 51,63% to Nikola Sarkozy who won 48,37% of French voters on run off that took place on May 6. At the center of changes that happen in France are hopes of less austerity measures in the national economy of France. Will this be an easy task for a new elected French president who stated will visit Germany right after his inauguration wich possible date is May 15?
How the discussion of France new elected president with German Chancellor Angela Merkel will reflect on future relations. First disputes over Europe is the cover of French newspaper Le Figaro. In an online article of Marie Bartnik she writes German Chancellor Angela Merkel congratulates to the new elected French president with “open arms”, although defend her “rigorous concept on economy policy in Europe”.
At the same time, experts already were “sketching out the likely contours of an agreement”:
“A putative Hollande-Merkel deal would go something like this. Mr Hollande, as he has already hinted, would modify his demand to renegotiate the new EU fiscal pact – the deal that makes a move towards balanced budgets legally binding. Instead Germany would agree to a vaguely-worded new growth pact, which could sit alongside the fiscal pact”, writes Gideon Rachman, a columnist of Financial Times in the column The Greek Crisis will fast expose Mr Hollande.
Economic issues, voters concerned with sluggish growth and rising unemployment have dominated the first round of presidential election in France. Despite the information that socialist Francois Hollande and incumbent president Nikolas Sarkozy will head for a runoff on May 6, of the winners after the first round was worker’s favorite National Front leader Marine Le Pen.
Marine Le Pen told “supporters Tuesday that she would back neither incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy nor Socialist frontrunner Francois Hollande in Sunday’s French presidential run-off”, writes online english of AhramOnline today.
Le Pen won third place with 18,1 percentage and has enough support to be the key and decisive factor that will determine stay or go situation for Sarkozy two weeks from now. Le Pen attracts voters with her anti-immigration platform that targets mostly Muslims living in France”.
“The race is on now to sway Le Pen’s voters for the decisive second round. Le Pen herself told AP last week that she was not going to give instructions to her voters. While Sarkozy has borrowed some of her anti-immigrant rhetoric and campaign themes of national identity, Le Pen has repeatedly criticized Sarkozy and says he is a has-been with no chance of returning to office”, explains Politico in their article on presidential election in France.
Economist in online edition ask in article: Are 18% of French people racist? Then summarize: “Her electoral success reflects, rather, a mix of disappointment with Mr Sarkozy, despair at the level of joblessness, bewilderment in the face of globalisation, frustration at the impotence of Europe, and disillusion with the political class”.
Further in an online article from February 25, 2012, How Marine Le Pen became worker’s favorite in the north, writes“the Front’s local success is partly down to her efforts to make the party more presentable, ridding it of neo-Nazi links of her father and predecessor, Jean-Marie, who made his base in the south of France”.
Marine Le Pen is perceived as a people voice in France who challenged not only immigration but also has questioned secularism, jobs and euro. Economist argued: “With a magic wand, the candidate of the powerful has become a candidate of the people”.A day after the ending of the first round she warned incumbent Sarkozy not to count on her supporters backing him in the second round.
Regardless if she decide to send a signal to her voters or will keep her strength for upcoming parliamentarian election in June, the second round of presidential election in France are reserved for socialist Francois Hollande and conservative Nicolas Sarkozy.
Is France ready for a change? Online edition of Le Monde Diplomatique in the article Sacking Sarkozy won’t be enough written by Diplomatique’s editorial director Serge Halimi underlines the new French president “will have to make a decision about European treaty that will demand still greater austerity”.
“The choice will affect the future of France, and of Europe”, writes Halimi and comments “new president’s first priority must be to question the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance (TSCG) and other austerity measures and “success or failure in this will determine everything else: education, public services, fair taxation and employment”.
France Socialists presidential candidate Francois Holland announced today if he is elected, he will re-negotiate euro financial agreement and France will not ratify the already proposed austerity measures.
With so much energy and efforts inscribed in the TSCG by Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel this spring it is obvious Germany could be against renegotiating of this treaty and possible questioning of financial shock therapy that could be imposed by forthcoming president of Fifth Republic, if changes happened.
My Leadership Style – Four Points of Focus
This semester, I have learned that leadership is everywhere. It is present in theoretical class discussions as well as real-life practical applications. Whether we are conscious of it or not, we are all exposed to leadership. It is how we deal with daily challenges and present circumstances that determine our role. The true leader either assumes his or her responsibility willingly or is thrust into the role because others have placed them there. My personal leadership experience has derived from somewhere in between the two circumstances. And now that I am aware of the varying styles of leadership, I hope to develop my own style in each of these following ways:
- First and foremost, be a strategic thinker. The leadership traits you were born with can be honed; and the leadership traits you weren’t born with can be learned. But none of this will be possible if you can’t think critically and strategically about where you were then, where you are now and where you want to be in the future.
- Second, be an effective communicator. Speak with clarity and conviction. But mostly, speak with the credibility you have earned for yourself through continued demonstrations of reliability and trustworthiness.
- Third, have courage in yourself, in your ideas and in others. That means you must eliminate any and all fear. Spencer Johnson says that moving beyond fear can actually help set you free. I agree. Since fear is the primary obstacle holding us back on a daily basis.
- Finally, always strive to exude patience and poise. Warren Bennis likens leadership to hurricanes and says that leaders must always be the calm in the eye of the storm. When life gets difficult, followers turn to their leaders as pinnacles of strength and hope in the face of an uncertain future. Though it is not always easy to maintain a sense of grace under fire, it is extremely important to stand strong while under pressure.
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