Can leaders ever follow other people — or do they always need to lead? Why or why not?
Ironically, on a study abroad program that centers around leadership, I feel like I have been more in the position of a follower than a leader throughout the trip so far. Compared to others on the program, I have less experience in several domains and I carry different personality traits, so I often feel myself relying on others for the things that I lack on a program that sometimes feels like it’s structured in a way that feels really unnatural to me. Back home, I’m very driven and engaged in most of the work that I do at school or at work. In these settings, I often find myself pitching ideas and leading the front-end of projects, but here, I have felt that some of that motivation has been lost. While part of this may because I am soft spoken by nature and I don’t feel fully comfortable in the group dynamics yet, I have noticed that others are passionate about what the program has to offer and as a result, I have taken a backseat and have made space for these people to lead.
Forget personality tests — I know that as a person one of my strengths is that I am good listener, which is a strength that often comes with being an introvert. When you make space for other people to lead and take initiative, more ideas are brought to the table than if there was one person autocratically making decisions for all people in a team. You have to trust the experiences and perspectives of others on your team have and also recognize their validity even if you may not share the same ones. My mom is a professor, and she always tells me that in the classroom she finds so much joy in not seeing her students as subordinates, but as equals who can teach her something new every single day. I feel as though the best leaders admit that they don’t know everything and feel comfortable taking a backseat because you never know what new information you may gain when you let yourself learn from other people.
What are you looking forward to on the upcoming trek? What are your anxieties/concerns and how will you predict addressing these?
When I came back from my exchange program in France this past fall semester, I came back never feeling more self-assured in my life. I remember telling my mother who didn’t understand why I kept delaying my departure that “I felt invincible.” This isn’t to say that I never dealt with any difficult emotions — in fact, the school psychologist tried to set me up on a friend date…— but all the hardships end up becoming worth it as you feel yourself gaining independence and comfort in an environment that once felt unnatural. Among many other things, I am looking forward to hopefully feeling this same feeling of accomplishment and self-assurance by the end of the trek. I’m stoked to experience the views, bond with the others on the program, and most of all, be able to say that I baked a pizza in the Himalayan mountains (my Italian family is going to be so impressed).