Campus Kitchen at UMASS Boston

~President Jimmy Carter

I often ponder what makes a great leader, well… great and most of the time I come up with the same answer: that s/he was born with “it” – the “stuff” great leaders are made of. That s/he emerged from the womb ready to takeover with a gusto previously unseen! That this person was wired to speak publicly about our town/country/department’s maladies in a professional, and somehow eloquently personal manner and change the WORLD! Sigh. Deep down inside, I know this isn’t true. There is a saying that great leaders are made, not born, and perhaps my answer is just an excuse I give to myself when I feel like an average leader, a so-so leader. Well, folks, tomorrow is the day that I hope to inspire CKUMB’s future leaders to even ponder about leadership. Tomorrow is Leadership Training Day!

“But I ain’t holding no hands, okay? I ain’t babysitting. You got today and today only to show me who and what you’re made of.” (Name that movie)

Ahem, back to work. Tomorrow, eight students from high school and college will come together to learn each other’s strengths , stories, and what common threads tie them together. I’ve never led a training like this before and I’m really excited to see how it turns out. We’ll be playing with peanut butter and jelly as a lesson in communication, we’ll be disregarding personal space in a team building activity, and finding out our “True Colors” (teeheehee – word play for leadership dorks!).

Back to my original question – what makes a great leader? I think there are necessary qualities like intelligence, thoughtfulness, honesty, and compassion that you’ll find in every well-rounded leader, but I think the point of striving to be this person isn’t for leadership, but for yourself. To become the best YOU you can be without holding anything back. It sounds easy, but involves a lot of risk and self disclosure. Who are some of our great leaders?