Butts In the Seats: One of the first things I appreciated about Sudmann’s talk was that he acknowledged that good leadership is a lot easier in theory than in practice. As a subordinate, we always have ideas running through our heads about how we would do a better job than our bosses if we were in charge. Then when we are actually put in charge, we get bogged down with all the details and demands for our time.
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Okay aren't TED talks just the best? They're so great. I resonate so much with this article. Even before reading it, I thought about my own strengths and weaknesses as a leader to prepare for what advice I could get out of this article. It turns out that thinking about your strengths and weaknesses IS the key to making yourself a better leader. In high school, I was the president of the National Honor Society. This was a great leadership position to have as my first presidential role because it is a national association. That said, the standards for the club were already set, and I just had to enforce them with a confident sense of guidance. This still was pretty hard for me because I learned that I am not one to delegate responsibilities easily. As a club, we came up with amazing ideas for events, but since I didn't know how to break down the plans and assign those responsibilites to different people, I let the weight of the project sit on my shoulders. Because of the enormous undertaking that not delegating powers puts on a president, I kind of fell into a sort of complacency because I didn't even know how to begin to make those ideas a reality. My career requires strong leadership qualities, and the introspection prompted by this article will make me a stronger designer.
This is such a great article for all of us to read, especially those of us who are pursuing careers in management. It points out some things we already know and try and analyze as we are moving into leadership based roles. What are my weakness? What are my strengths? Then from putting those out, how do you work on the weaknesses? How do you play to your strengths? Another thing this article says is that it needs to stem into your day to day thinking. It just is not enough to think of it once and move on. There needs to be constant self-evaluation. This helps you also in moving through daily life as a leader and manager. It also brings up prioritizing which is something we always talk about in management classes. I remember last year, Molly McCarter and I had a long conversation about prioritizing and how to effectively make a ‘to do’ list. These small things are steps into becoming a leader that is looked up to and effective in their day to day life.
I am a big fan of this article. In high school I had the opportunity to take a trimester long course on Leadership in the 21st Century with our head of school who paved the way for all future heads of my high school. In this class we learned different types of leadership and tips and tricks to use to pull together the best leader in every situation. I have made it a goal of mine to follow in the footsteps of my mother and grandmother who are remarkable leading women in their communities. This article does a really good job at highlighting the notion of self-leadership. It makes a lot of sense as a concept for a leader to understand. If a leader cannot figure out what they need to do for themselves how can they be expected to lead others? Overall, I am a big fan of this article. I also really like how it includes the Ted Talk that the article references. It is a good listen.
Self introspection and self evaluation seem almost like common sense -type things to do as a leader, yet they are so often overlooked. Too many times, those in a leadership position get stagnant, refusing to believe that they may often be the problem in an organization. So much of being a leader is taking responsibility for your own actions and management, as well as the goals and objectives of whatever organization you are at the head of. You have to walk the fine line between selfishness and selflessness; the needs of the organization should be at the forefront of your mind, but not at the expense of your own self improvement and introspection. I held leadership positions in my high school theatre department for three years, and if felt like I was constantly at battle with myself, trying to find a balance between working on me and working on the show, or the troupe. That balancing act continues, and will be a constant point of contention for the rest of my life.
I find these types of talks very interesting. Particularly talks revolving around leadership or other similar topics. Having watched many, this talk doesn’t really say a whole lot and gives the basis of what all the other talks out there explain. In order to lead, you need to be able to lead yourself, know yourself, check yourself. You need to put yourself in other people’s shoes and adjust to provide for the people as they need and as their needs change. These are all things that are taught very, very early on in our lives. We often hear things like, “put yourself in other people shoes” “think before you speak” and “treat others how you want to be treated.” These are all qualities of Good leaders. This should be noted because to be leader you don’t have to have these qualities, it just means you won’t be doing anything worthwhile, helpful, or beneficial for anyone except maybe yourself. When that is the case, you also lead everyone into turmoil, depression, war, etc. This is seen repeatedly throughout history with the classic example of the fall of the roman empire. The last emperor literally didn’t care and watched the empire burn as chaos and confusion broke out, but he sat at the highest point and watched because it wasn’t affecting him like it was others. In sum, good leaders have these base qualities, the rest is up to that leader to then lead the people in the right direction.
Leadership is a bit of tricky and sometimes touchy topic. I think a lot of people from the outside look at leaders and think, "if I was the leader, I would..." or just think that they can be good leaders because they have knowledge on certain topics. Sadly, that's not how it works. There are many layers to being a good leader, most of which probably won't be realized until you are in that role. I like how the article compares it to parenting. I can give my friends who are parents all the advice that I have on parenting, but truth is, I have never been a parent so that advice may hold no substance at all. This is why we look up to people who have experienced it. They have gone through it so they actually know. Knowledge is power, but experience and wisdom are unmatched when they come from a good source. It also very easy to criticize leaders and point out when things are going wrong rather than when they are going right. Because when they are going wrong, it is very obvious whereas when they are going right, things will be running smoothly and often you won't realize a lot of it. It's sort of like backstage crew- if they are doing their jobs right, you won't think about them nor see them; if they are doing their jobs poorly, you will see the errors, you will think about them and what they are doing, and you might see them as well. I do agree that self-evaluation is a good start to becoming a good leader. You have to know yourself very well before you take a step into leading other beings. But it doesn't end at self-evaluation. There's much more to it, including evaluating and understanding the people that you are leading. I also do not think that there is a set formula to leading. There may be some bases, but I think some things change or evolve a little depending on where you are, who you are working with and the job being led.
Having skimmed a few of the comments before reading and watching I was excited to see another TedTalk that gave me more insight into becoming a better leader; however, this TedTalk really didn't do it for me. Most of the information seemed obvious and surface level. Not to say that I am a perfect leader or that I can't benefit from any knowledge. I just felt I didn't benefit from this knowledge. While many of the ideas expressed I'm sure others would have benefited from, I know a lot of people that would become substantially less irritating to work with if they were aware that their constant complaints about our leaders is not constructive or helpful but that is neither here nor there. I think that the ideas expressed, while important, were not new or revolutionary. Every leader should know that they need to prioritize or delegate or step back and look at the bigger picture. The things that were touched on in the article that I found most important were surprisingly directed at the followers not the leaders. As a member of a team, it is important to keep criticism constructive as well as stop and think about not how you could do their job better, but how you can aid in making their job easier and more enjoyable.
As someone who has served in a leadership position within theater, I took a moment to consider the contents of this article before I read it. Thinking about different strengths and weaknesses that we possess is the best way to move forward as a stronger individual and team player. It makes sense that this article suggests that keeping track of ourselves first is essential to being a well-equipped manager of others. It is also important for leaders to recognize their role in an environment and whether or not they are contributing positively or negatively to it. This article does a good job at making its reader consider important ideas about leadership. Hopefully people in leadership roles are being thoughtful about what they do, and hopefully this article helps them reach that place of consideration. Being stubborn or stuck in one's ways is not conducive to a good work environment so it is important for us all to consider the role we play as leaders.
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