What is Leadership?

Eighth grade SOAR met today to learn about leadership skills from Susan Pinsker, adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership. This session kicks off the second half of SOAR, focusing on leadership development. Students defined a leader as:

• Someone who leads and has followers


• Someone who thinks for him or herself


• A person who makes decisions independently


• Someone who is trustworthy


• A person who sets an example


• A person who is independent


• "The boss"

"Leadership is the art of motivating a group of people to act towards a common goal," Susan taught, before teaching the tool of "mind-mapping." This idea was developed by Tony Buzan in 1971. After dividing into two groups, students used mind-mapping to visualize what a leader is - and is not.

Team Chance's mind map for leadership included trust to reach a common goal, imagination and an open mind, knowledge, taking charge and making change, idea and always thinking, setting an example and using one's heart.

The "non-leader" team said that immaturity, lack of seriousness, assertiveness and independence impeded leadership. They also pointed to bullying, passivity as negatives. Those who cannot take charge, are unreliable and confused will not rise to leadership, according to the non-leader team.

Both mind-maps will be re-visited at the end of the course to see if student positions have changed.

What happens when a leader is unethical? The discussion turned to sports figures and unethical behavior. Students debated whether or not Tiger Woods was a leader, and whether his charitable giving outweighed immoral behavior in other arenas. An exercise in values helped them determine their priorities. Students sorted cards into three categories: always valued, seldom valued and never valued, eventually narrowing cards into the top ten, top five values and finally the top three values. Susan gave each student a journal to use for reflection on today's values discussion. Students wrote their top three values on the first page of the notebook. Homework was assigned. "When did your behavior this week match your top three values? What did you notice about when your behavior matched your top three values? What did you notice when your behavior did not match your top three values?" Students were asked to remain observant about their own behavior in order to chart their leadership development.

Susan bid the students farewell until the ninth leadership session in which she will sum up the course.