I believe ever situation in our lives has meaning. There are times when we see those meanings and times when they are disguised. This past week was an exciting week for myself as I learned more about my leadership style and myself.
On Wednesday Resident Hall Association elected its president for next year. I participated in the elections as I thought I would make a great president for this organization. As you may have guessed by the title of this post I lost. I was sad that I had lost because I thought this was where I wanted to spend my energy and time next year. However, after thinking about next year I realized it was for the best I wasn’t elected.
All through high school I participated in a form of leadership that was mainly unelected. I only won one out of the three elections I participated, but I was a leader in multiple areas. My eyes were slowly opened to the opportunities available that were for the “unelected leader”. I would be able to spend time mentoring freshman students; I would be able to spend my time developing my human rights group; I would be able to spend my time developing my leadership style.
I’m sure this has happened to many of my readers. Maybe you didn’t get the internship you really wanted this summer; maybe you didn’t get into the study abroad program. Maybe you’re like me who wasn’t elected to an office you thought you wanted. It’s not a matter of what we loose at, it is a matter of what we can do because we aren’t doing something.
This is a good post because it raises the question of what is a leader, or what makes someone a leader? Do elections always result in putting the best leader into office? Office-holding is just one form of leadership, as you show here. I like the idea of unelected leaders because that means anyone can decide to be a leader. What are the ingredients of leadership? I'd like to see others offer their ideas on this question.
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