2008 Woodie Awards
Real leadership extends far beyond the limelight
Nicole Dellasanta
Issue date: 2/5/05 Section: Feature
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You've seen them. They stand up there behind their podiums giving their speeches. They headline their conventions and embattle in heated debates with their opponents. They have their supporters, their condemners, their slick smiles and bad comb-overs.
You've seen them on the screen, too. They have their good looks, their toothpaste-ad smiles, their commercials and theatrical trailers, and they capture our emotions with their mannerisms and dialogue. Sometimes they give back some of their billions to charities they work with.
And you've seen them on campus. Lurking about in the shadows with their clipboards, clicky pens, and enthusiasm ready, leaping out of the bushes and chasing after you with sign-up sheets and brochures. They're in the Reach Out Center volunteering the day away, or the Academic Support Center mentoring the night away.
Who are they? They are leaders. They lead individuals, small groups or clubs, and entire nations towards what they see as the best circumstances and ways of life for everyone. They are politicians, actors and actresses, and student leaders on college campuses. They are individuals whom everyone can recognize and identify, right down to how often they dye their hair or whether they've been working out.
But what about the people that aren't easily recognizable or identifiable? Everyone who isn't a leader must be a follower, right? And if a leader is someone who is always in the limelight, then everyone else who isn't must be a follower, right?
Wrong.
A shining spotlight or a camera close-up doesn't always necessarily have to be readily available for people who desire to speak their opinions and sway the masses. The leaders that you know and love (or dislike) from politics, Hollywood and music, and Assumption's own campus, may be names and faces that you can identify faster than you can say your own name, but there are other leaders that are not seen or recognized. Whether it be a single weekend at the soup kitchen, taking your friend's keys away at a party, or even the simple act of making someone else feel good about themselves are, as miniscule as they may seem, acts of a true leader.
You've seen them on the screen, too. They have their good looks, their toothpaste-ad smiles, their commercials and theatrical trailers, and they capture our emotions with their mannerisms and dialogue. Sometimes they give back some of their billions to charities they work with.
And you've seen them on campus. Lurking about in the shadows with their clipboards, clicky pens, and enthusiasm ready, leaping out of the bushes and chasing after you with sign-up sheets and brochures. They're in the Reach Out Center volunteering the day away, or the Academic Support Center mentoring the night away.
Who are they? They are leaders. They lead individuals, small groups or clubs, and entire nations towards what they see as the best circumstances and ways of life for everyone. They are politicians, actors and actresses, and student leaders on college campuses. They are individuals whom everyone can recognize and identify, right down to how often they dye their hair or whether they've been working out.
But what about the people that aren't easily recognizable or identifiable? Everyone who isn't a leader must be a follower, right? And if a leader is someone who is always in the limelight, then everyone else who isn't must be a follower, right?
Wrong.
A shining spotlight or a camera close-up doesn't always necessarily have to be readily available for people who desire to speak their opinions and sway the masses. The leaders that you know and love (or dislike) from politics, Hollywood and music, and Assumption's own campus, may be names and faces that you can identify faster than you can say your own name, but there are other leaders that are not seen or recognized. Whether it be a single weekend at the soup kitchen, taking your friend's keys away at a party, or even the simple act of making someone else feel good about themselves are, as miniscule as they may seem, acts of a true leader.