Leadership is Everyone's Business

"Leadership is everyone's business."

A statement that is conceptually hard to argue, yet widely unimplemented. It seems as though it cleanly and concisely provides a definition (of which there are obviously many) for leadership. Though it leaves a common--and logical--question unanswered: "If leadership is everyone's business, why does it need exclusive leaders?"

So I am going to break down the four words that make this statement entirely true. And I swear I thought of this before reading this man's blog...

Anooj "Lefty" Bhandari

Leadership is everyone's business.
Leadership, while able to be defined, redefined, and revised time and time again, is simply the concept of guiding, laying a path, or setting an example for an organization, a group of people, and sometimes even yourself. In the most traditional sense that we see around us in our classrooms, administration, student organizations, leadership is the direction that comes from the top. These leaders are selected by authorities, our peers, or even self-appointed. Thus, the reason that leadership is everyone's business is because these leaders are responsible for an organization and its followers and members and the decisions made at the top should be disseminated to the bottom. I am never in need of an excuse to use my favorite quote, but this speaks to the idea that "Leadership is action, not position." Anyone can lead and be a leader. Leading responsibly, ethically, and intentionally is what I believe is genuinely leadership. Too often, we see leaders that are power-driven, rather than results-driven. This rarely ends well, as fellow leaders feel helpless, members feel disenchanted, and the organization is internally marred. Leadership is everyone's business because the the leader and/or leadership team reflects more than himself, herself, or themselves.

Leadership is everyone's business.
"Is" is a verb that is the third person singular present of "be," which means to exist, be present, occur, or take place. "Is" is the conjoining word that links leadership to everyone. And it is not a direct relationship, but in order for leadership to exist, you must have everyone on board; and in order for everyone present (whether physically in-person or figuratively supportive), leadership must take place.
You didn't think I was going to explain this one, did you?

Leadership is everyone's business.
Leadership is everyone's business because it involves often the hardest form of leadership: deferring it. Leadership needs input from everyone. But more than input, it needs involvement. If done correctly, leadership should be affecting everyone in an organization and everyone should be taking a vested intertest in leadership. For example, democracy, both at the national level (Presidential Election) and local level (fraternity elections), is when leaders are most accountable to the people they represent and support. In the waning months of every two to four years, the politicians' records are revealed and the leaders have to come to terms with their actions, for better or for worse--as determined by the people. In fraternities, elections are often the most attended Chapter meetings, as everyone wants a say in who will lead their organization for the next calendar year. If leadership ever starts becoming the interest of only one or a few and everyone isn't taken into consideration, true leadership is not taking place.

Leadership is everyone's business.
Finally, leadership is in the business of doing. We lead toward a common goal and people follow because they want to see this goal accomplished or arrive at a final destination. No business in the history of ever has been successful with one person. Even a small business owned and operated by one person needs customers to be sustainable. Leadership, in its own sense, is even a business. It requires a vision and mission, management, budgeting (of time and money), people to buy in, and a model that thrives, but also transforms when unforeseen circumstances arise. Leadership is everyone's business.

Fisher College of Business student
conducting his senior thesis.

From the Balcony

For this assignment, I balconied (verb) both the Membership Development Committee and Steering meetings for BuckeyeThon, which is also conveniently the organization that I will be auditing for my final project. However, for the sake of this blog, I am going to comment only on the Steering meeting, as I believe it best paints a holistic picture of the BuckeyeThon organization.

Q: Who is the leader of the meeting?

A: The meeting was lead off by advisor, Felix Alonso, followed by a welcome from President, Suraj Hinduja, and then sequential speakers were then prompted by a Prezi operated by Vice President, Kiersten McCartney.

Q: What have previous leaders been like? How have they been viewed by members and participants? Why are they viewed this way?

A: Last year's President, Mark Mangia, was admired for his professionalism, passion for the organization, ability to work with all people, and love for the BuckeyeThon cause. To the extent of my knowledge, he was well-received and well-respected not only by BuckeyeThon, but also the larger Ohio State community.

Q: What does your organization value? What values are implicitly known? Explicitly known? How do these values play into the success or failure of a meeting?

A: This organization, above all else, values people. They value each other, their donors, Ohio State, and, of course, the kids. They value raising money in creative ways all for the mission of ending childhood cancer and ensuring that children and families dealing with cancer can afford the highest level of care.

Q: Who are the followers of the meeting? What do they value? What do they get from being a member of the organization? Is there apathy among followers? How do you know? Are there members who readily point out problems but rarely offer solutions? How does this affect the organization?

A: The "followers" of the meeting are the 115 members of the BuckeyeThon Steering team. They are morale captains, fundraisers, committee members, and dancers. The organization runs entirely on its members. They get not only friendship and a traditional social experience from joining a student organization, but they also acquire skills such as communication, professional development (which the Membership Development team is currently crafting), sales and marketing experience, event planning, and leadership training. While it is hard to tell from one meeting, I have always admired BuckeyeThon from afar at their apparent lack of member apathy. And those members that do have a problem with something in BuckeyeThon are often very vocal about fixing it due to the open lines of communication between the members and Executive Board. This allows for a positive and healthy environment within BT.

Q: How would you describe the context or environment? Is the organization doing a good job of doing what it is intended to do? Are its activities and mission consistent with each other? Are members and leaders happy? Is there pride in the organization? Is it doing “well” in the eyes of its members and constituents? Is the campus community supportive of the organization? Is the organization seen as a benefit or detriment to the community?

A: BuckeyeThon fits perfectly within the context of Ohio State and the members the organization selects and attracts fits perfectly within that environment, as well. The social and fundraising activities BT holds align with its mission, both internally and externally, though the Membership Development committee recognizes that BT could be doing more internally for the betterment of its members. It seems as though both the members and leaders are so passionate and prideful about this cause, that simple feuds seem trivial. And the current 999 registered dancers tells me that this campus is fully on board with the mission and event of BuckeyeThon. The one question I still aim to answer is if the Executive Board and general members agree if the organization is successful or even have the same definition for success.

Inheriting the Earth brings the weight of the World

So I think there is a quote somewhere out that that hits on the point that one often experiences the most growth in times of struggle, challenge, and vulnerability. Obviously, it's a bit more elegant than that, but you get the picture.

Well, this quote really came to life for me last year when I took on the how-could-this-be-so challenging role of Block "O" President. Now, before I begin, I should preface my story by saying that this position was also one of the most fun, rewarding, and empowering experiences I have ever had. Underneath it all, it still had its glorifying moments, I still got to cheer on the Buckeyes, work with people I thought I'd never meet, and make "you had to be there to believe it" memories.

Since I cannot paint, I will provide you with the necessary information for this learning experience.

Background Info: I first fell in love with the idea of Block "O" before I even came to Ohio State. I met former President Josiah Dhaenens during the summer before college began, as he was an Orientation Leader and I was a freshman. He took me under his wing, and through the first half of my freshman year, I never missed a single Block "O" game, meeting, or event. I ran for and was elected to the position of NutHouse Director in the spring of my freshman year. This was the best and most rewarding experience I've ever had in college. At the end of my sophomore year, I then ran for President of Block "O". This is where it all begins.

Essentially, here is the thesis of how I grew: I had never been more challenged more by people, both working with and against me, than when I was in this position. Without getting into the specific details of names and situations, as I do not feel those are appropriate to expel upon this blog, here are three of the biggest lessons I learned learned:

Managing People, Managing Friends
Until this position, I had never really experienced the feeling of being openly disliked. It sucks, and I would never wish that feeling upon anyone. Every decision, every meeting, and even things that couldn't possibly require commentary were scrutinized, often simply for the sake of argument. Every day, with in-person, digital, and even second-hand communication, I felt as though I was walking through a mine field.

Time management
Despite that I've been told since freshman year of high school that if you spread yourself too thin, you can't give all of yourself to everything, I did not actually feel the effects of this until spring of my sophomore year when I was involved in way more than one should ever be when holding the title of "President" for any organization. This hurt my relationships with people and organizations that were not getting the time from me that they deserved--most importantly, Block "O". This was unacceptable and I used the summer to reevaluate my priorities. I had to cease my participation in many things I loved, but sacrifices had to be made if I was to succeed in this role for Block "O". It was worth cutting back.

My values
There were many times where rules and decisions were challenged. I was stalwart on some and lenient on others. However,  I never once wavered on my values. There were a few specific and very memorable instances where other members of the executive team challenged the values of this organization, this University, and myself.  I have regretted not enforcing some of our rules as much as I would have liked, but I never once regretted doing what was morally right.

During my tenure as President, I only saw things in terms of wins and losses. However, now that I am many months removed from the positon, I am able to look back much more favorably and ways that I was able to build strong relationships, build the organization, and learn so much more about myself. Lessons that I am still applying to my life today.

College.

Bridging the gap between student development theory and leadership facilitation is not difficult.

Unlike crossing this bridge:

In the first reading, I was able to relate Chickering's Psychosocial Theory of Student Development best to SLA.  Essentially, the theory explains that there are seven vectors along which traditionally aged college students develop. However, after reading through all of the vectors, I feel as though this theory better explains the vectors along which traditional student organizations develop. And that's where we come in. We have student facilitators that develop and present workshops that span the seven vectors:

1. Developing Competence
• SLA: Helps student organizations establish direction and set goals through analytical thinking and self-evaluation
2. Managing Emotions
• SLA: Initiates team building activities and teaches problem-solving techniques
3. Developing Autonomy
• SLA: Emphasizes the importace of individual contributions, positional goals, and delegating assigned tasks while understanding the importance of interdependence
4. Establishing Identity
• SLA: Develops marketing strategies with student organizations in order to allow them to best promote their programs, people, or mission
5. Feeing Interpersonal Relationships
• SLA: Educates on the importance of diversity and offers ways to have open dialogue and open doors
6. Developing Purpose
• SLA: Aims to offer new ways of thinking for old ideas that still align with the established purpose of the organization and ensuring that every decision is furthering and matching this purpose
7. Developing Integrity
• SLA: Establishes values with individuals and connects them with the values of the organization and its members to ensure that they are being considered when decisions are being made

I interpreted the second reading on the Leadership Identity Development Model (LID) more in line with the theory's original concept: development of the individual. I found this to be most relational when considering the journey that most Ohio State student's take when identifying which student organizations to join.

1. Awareness: "Recognizing that leadership is 'out there somewhere'..." 
2. Exploration/Engagement: Exploring student organizations and seeking direction from peers, student leaders, or mentors
3. Leader Identified: Not only recognizing who the leaders are, but then also working to emulate their actions in order to take steps to become a leader
4. Leadership Differentiated: Acknowledging that--insert my favorite quote now--"Leadership is action, not position."
5. Generativity: Committing to an organization due to a particular passion for the people or purpose and actively thinking and acting in ways that are for the betterment of the organization
6. Integration/Synthesis: Because this stage envelops the above five stages, this role can be achieved either as a senior member or alumnus of an organization. A leader in this stages recognizes the importance of every role and feels a responsibility to give back--or pay forward--to the organization.

Contrary to the introduction of the assignment, I actually find that numerical steps or stages are easier for me to grasp and identify where a person or organization may be at along their path of leadership development. What I have found that is not relatable to leadership or SLA, however, is this video:

Performing Arts and Post-Industrial Leadership

So the fact that this is a complete sentence is an indication that this blog is already better than my last one. And I blame YouTube, the DNC, SLA training (oh, the irony), and the concept of "blogging" for the delay in this post. This third sentence is attempting to act as a segway, but, given its poor quality, is only delaying this assignment further.

1. Charismatic Leadership

At the root of being a charismatic leader is having the ability to lead with poise, profundity, and presentation. It is leading others through effective inspiration, not just empty propaganda. The reading states that there must be three components present for charismatic leadership.

1. Leader characteristics -- the leader must be trustworthy and earn this trust with his or her words
2. Follower characteristics -- there must be a willingness to follow
3. The situation -- the situation must call for it

And only one clip came to mind when reading on Charismatic Leadership: the greatest inspirational speech to ever grace the silver screen, and I will not entertain arguments. On July 4th, with only a small fleet of pilots, missiles, and a computer scientist standing in between the Earth and aliens hellbent on destroying it, President Thomas J. Whitmore takes to the megaphone:

Displaying both courage and charisma, President Whitmore galvanizes the gathered "soldiers" to take to the skies and go on the offensive in order to do the only thing that, according to Charles Darwin, matters: survive. What is not shown in this clip, is President Whitmore's servant leadership. Having previous flight combat experience, Whitmore shows the ultimate act of bravery and pilots the lead plane himself. Whitmore 2012.

2. Transformational Leadership

This style of leadership suggests that people "need leadership that inspires others and enables them to enact revolutionary change." It requires charisma, inspiration, intellectual stimulation, and individual consideration. No where else do these elements best harmonize than through Hynkel's speech (played by the late and great Charlie Chaplin) in The Great Dictator.

3. Value-Based Leadership

If someone showed you a man that had all the riches in the world, lead a double-life, and had no parental direction, you would probably assume he is some fat cat businessman or dirty, third-world tyrant. But I am going to show you a man that has all the riches in the world, leads a double-life, and has no parental direction...and his name is Batman. Despite his existence since 1940, no comic book nor movie had ever clearly captured the mission and purpose of Batman's actions. Until The Dark Knight.

After saving a city held in a stranglehold by one if its darkest criminals, Batman accepts neither the accolades nor news conference that often accompanies heroism. Instead, his beliefs, core values, and vision for a greater Gotham leads him to altruistic behaviors that support this vision.

"Because he's the hero Gotham deserves,
but not the one it needs right now.
He's a silent guardian,
a watchful protector,

the Dark Knight."

1st Class

Tim
-6th grade StuCo Pres
-My dad
-Swim captain
-"Leadership is action, not position."
-Leadership Collaborative
-Block "O" shadowing/mentorship --> Leadership
-Servant leadership
-Mike Dunn, Don Stenta
-Orientation
-LeaderShape
-First real leadership position
     -peer leadership
-Having a support group
-Thoughtful & purposeful decision-making