My Story: How I Found My Voice to Lead
Leading is not easy; it’s often a tireless, thankless, job where others get to be critical when things don’t work out, but overjoyed when things do. Many people think that leadership is something you either have or you don’t. However, I would claim that leaders are voices of reason with heart and integrity. One’s integrity can visually be assessed by his or her life’s example. We choose daily what we will or will not stand for and you prioritize your values. Most importantly, there is never a bad time to find our voice and open our mind.
In high school, I was the supreme follower. I did what people told me to do and I didn’t share any of my own thoughts or opinions. I didn’t see the point-- why would anyone want to hear what I had to say? I wasn’t the best at anything, just good at a variety of things. I didn’t factor into my friends’ decisions of what we should do, where we should go, who I should take to the dance, because I never vocalized what I wanted. I just didn’t see the point. Until one day, I found the courage to use my voice. What had built up for 4 years became a crashing tidal wave of a reality check when an English teacher gave me the power to use my voice. Our AP English class had read the book The Things They Carried, centered around a man who had gone off to war but who had carried with him physical things like old photographs or matches, but also metaphorical things like fear, anger, and guilt. At the end of my senior year, my teacher asked us to write about the things we carried. This became my platform to voice all that I had carried for my friends for those four years: disappointment, hurt feelings, insincere words, innocence lost. This assignment wasn’t made just for me, but it sure felt like it. What I wasn’t prepared for was when my teacher asked me to read my story aloud. She said, “I think people need to hear this.” I didn’t think I could do it, but it was in that moment that my life changed. I stopped being a wallflower and I started being someone whose voice was worth listening to. I said all the things I had wanted to say and they were forced to hear the harsh truths. When I finished reading, I looked out into a sea of tears, over their lack of understanding. They didn’t know what I needed because they never bothered to ask. From that day onward, I advocated for myself and my needs. I created my own culture in college that made me the leader I am today. I followed my passions and cultivated relationships that continue to pay dividends every single day. By acknowledging a person’s presence and allowing them a place to use their voice and share their ideas, you become a leader who others want to be around. After class one day, a few students met up to grab a beer and spitball a project idea. This outing then turned into a monthly happy hour meeting. The first Thursday of the month, anyone in the Education Department who wanted to, met us out at the Keweenaw for a forum. It became our code word for teacher’s after hour happy hour and somehow I became the president. What started out as semi-educational became educational in completely different ways. We didn’t talk about our students-- we talked about each other and we shared our stories. We didn’t carry the loads of others, we let down our baggage, threw some darts, and drank some beers. What became a once a month thing became a weekly thing that we still talk about today, 10 years later. What I carry from both of these stories is the idea that leadership isn’t just one thing and it doesn’t ever look the same to any two people. Leadership can come out of any conversation that you are open to it. We cannot be afraid to use our voices to let others know we need their help and we value their contributions. Leaders have minds, hearts, voices, and spirit, and they tap into each one at the proper times-- that’s what sets them apart; they see needs and people and they work to fuse the two. |