Leadership in America

As this course comes down to its last week, I think about real world examples of leadership’s influence in communication. Specifically, within our executive branch. Our 45^th president, made history as someone who not only does not exactly have the political experience, but had made numerous controversial remarks. When I think of a president, I imagine someone that is a leader. Maybe that is a personal bias, but I feel this role to lead a nation should be someone that knows how to not only appeal to its followers but also has a vision. However, this year, I am not sure I feel the same level of leadership from our president. I understand that President Trump is a very wealthy business man. He knows how to run businesses’, corporations and create industry, but our nation is not a business.  We are not employee’s and he is not our executive. As a management, you are the boss, this is a position that was given to you whether you earned it or not. Whether you respect your subordinates or not, you still are in a managing role because that is what you are paid to do, but that is not a leader. A leader is someone that rises to their rank through their actions and character, not because they were hired. Ideally, you would want someone that embodies both characteristic, but I do not think this is the case. That is my issue, we need leadership, not management. I think a president should not feel that they are on a pedestal because they are elected to that position, but they should already embody the characteristics of someone that is in that position. We all have our opinions on how the country should be ran, as for me, I do not feel that leadership we have now is what we need to make America great again.

What it takes to win

After I had completed my readings and watched a couple of TED Talks, this week’s blog subject became clear to me. One of the topics of discussion was body language. Body language is a nonverbal form of communication. Certain motions and gestures our body do involuntarily can portray certain qualities within us. People can read this communication and either become attracted or disinterested simply by this nonverbal communication. What was interesting about this week’s information particularly, was that the speaker explained that not only can the mind change the body, but the body can change the mind. Relating that to body language, this states that if you think to have powerful body language, you will begin to think more like a powerful person. In vise versa, if you think like a powerful person, your body will display yourself as one. When hearing the term “powerful person”, I immediately relate that to someone that is a leader. So, I started to think, “does this mean if you start thinking like a leader, will you begin to display leadership qualities?” I thought about a quote my mom used to say to me while growing up which was, “fake it ‘til you make it.” This is the oldest trick in the book when it comes to how you portrayed yourself. After watching this speaker, I knew what I wanted to discuss today because not only did I agree with her theory on an intellectual level, but I realized I had experienced it myself.

My mom has a very strong personality while my dad is more laid back. I took after my dad. I enjoy my alone time, sitting in my own thoughts. I would say naturally I am a goofy and passive person. Type B personality. There are times I envied my mom’s ability to speak her mind and get her point across, but it that wasn’t me. I am okay with that, I love not stressing over everything and just being able to retreat to my own thoughts when the world gets a little too crazy, however I have come to learn, I can’t always do that.

 My whole soccer career I have been on a team with Type A personality people. They were good players, good leaders and it made it easy for me to do my part. I was comfortable not talking, or vocalizing my opinion because I did not have to for the team’s success. Being a senior in college, times have changed, I am currently on a university women’s soccer team. I am not only a strong player on the team but the oldest as well. This means that even if I don’t want to be, I am still in a leadership position. At first, I didn’t know what to do with it. I started thinking to myself, “Will they even take me seriously? What if I say the wrong thing?” This was a little terrifying for me. I am someone that leads more by example than vocally, which is okay sometimes but that can’t always be the method of communication. This was quite difficult; my comfort was not the characteristics I needed to be a successful leader on the team. I would not say that that change happened over night but slowly, I became more comfortable. I knew if I truly wanted them to utilize my guidance, it was imperative that I communicate vocally on and off the field. I started small, with simple things like giving praise or giving a suggestion to a player at practice. Then I noticed I could speak up and voice my opinion not just on a personal level, but amongst a group as well. Then I had an epiphany, on the field I felt confident. I always knew I was a good player, but I played behind the scenes, I let my personality take over and I was okay with doing my role and letting someone have the glory, those Type A people. But now, I wanted that feeling too, I didn’t just want the assist anymore, I wanted goals too. I even started communicating on the field with players during games! Things I was never felt comfortable doing or even thought about doing, had become something that was required from me and I suddenly embodied the role. I just felt different; unleashed. At the time, I assumed it was with age, maturity possibly, but it is all coming full circle now. When I changed my mindset on how I viewed myself, even though it was not who I was, my actions changed soon after. I faked it. I had never been in a leadership role before and I never desired it. But when the time came, being able to “fake it till you make it” is all you need.

Now, When I am not on the soccer field or associated with soccer, I am my usual introverted self, I have my alone time and a bask in my room of silence. But, as soon as I grab my cleats, I am someone else. My teammates often think I am this outgoing, extroverted person because that is who I taught myself to be around them, but that is what was needed. I didn’t make a 360 transformation; I wasn’t trying to become someone I was not. I used my natural skills to enhance my leadership platform. Now I have one season left, I can say I will have left my soccer career as someone completely different then who I was four years ago.

I say to you that anyone can be a leader. Yes, there are those people that have natural charisma about themselves that people like, but anyone has the ability. If you want something bad enough, you will find a way to make it happen. As I said, naturally, I was never someone that was the loudest or lead everyone with discussion, but it became required for me to develop some sort of leadership skill for my success. Our minds are a powerful thing and as soon as you tell yourself who you want to be, your body will start acting appropriately. 

"The art of communication is the language of a leader" -James Humes