Leadership 1

Hello, sorry to be posting this late. I couldn't get back to the original link but I found it now. From reading the Commentary on leadership by Richard Greenwald I found it not extremely correct. It is obvious other people have different views on leadership but I felt he was giving the business idea of leadership and not a broad view of all types of leaders. To me it is obvious that it seems the world is low on leaders because true leaders don't need recognition for all of their achievements. Although most of us do want that we don't strive for it. Leaders do something because they know it is right or they know it will help someone or something they are working on.

His idea of training leadership is strange to me. Leadership is not something you can train like soldiers. In real life it takes natural intuition with the right mindset and values for leaders to be accepted and successful. For example if someone who had no natural ability or want as a leader was trained with his idea of skills, they may get out into the real world attempt these practices and fall flat. Human beings know when someone isn't being real or is attempting something scripted in a way and therefore not take them seriously. Of course it may not be that way for every case but it seems more likely.

Although at some university's leadership may not be present take UArts. It takes a lot for any student in this day and age to go to art school especially when the fields are extremely hard to break into and not guaranteed. Most students here are already leaders just by taking the leap of faith that their talent will get them somewhere in the world. In my experience here working on student projects, there are sometimes too many leaders. A good leader in my opinion needs to know when to take a back seat sometimes to avoid conflict with other peers or collaborators but still fight for their own opinions to be heard.

Greenwald talks about defining a leaders values but I think it is more important for a person to define their own values for themselves which could have a bigger impact then just the broad ideas of what a leader could be or could do. Greenwald relates leaders to business programs and politics and the economy. There are many other types of leaders however in my mind then those who work in offices and strive to be political heads. All leaders can not be political and solve the worlds problems all in one shot, especially the economy. Many leaders in my opinion that would be good political leaders don't seem to want to be because the world has changed and there is too much bureaucracy taking over and not fair competition or work ethic.

Greenwald says that leaders "will need to be equipped to make their own opportunities. They need the skills, knowledge, and qualities that leadership programs cultivate: self-reliance, social and cultural capital, appreciation for lifelong learning, creativity, conflict-resolution and team-bulding skills, ethics, and understanding. I feel at an art institution they already instill these type of values in us because we can not just walk into any office an apply for a job when we are done. We need to go out in the world make connections and our own opportunities. I feel Greenwald is not taking into account the broad spectrum of universities and only looking at a small portion of leaders at business schools and other types of colleges with broad majors and focuses.

-Alison Savino