Leadership: Part 1 – Power

“Even Jesus washed the feet of the disciples” 

The sentiment of that quote is never lost on me. Whether you’re religious or not it is packed with meaning. Jesus the son of God, the single most perfect and most powerful human to have ever lived, knelt and washed the feet of his followers. He could have snapped his fingers and made their feet clean. Later that evening he could have spoken simple words and the Roman Empire would have fallen but instead he was arrested, tortured and crucified. This illustrates that leadership isn’t about power or position but rather service and sacrifice. 

Good leadership requires a lot of things, but power is not one of them. Power, the act of protecting it, the overuse of it, or the ambitious attainment of it is usually best described as tyranny or at the very least an act of narcissism. It is because of this that many great leadership authors like Brené Brown, Craig Groeschel, and Michael Hyatt will tell you that one’s position or power does not guarantee leadership. What they will say leadership requires is service, sacrifice, courage, trust, respect, vulnerability, empathy, and the ability to listen to all voices. All of this is important to note because no matter what career you have or what season of life you are in you may find yourself seen as a leader or be in need of finding one. There are literally thousands of methods and entire college curriculums devoted to creating better leaders, so don’t expect this blog post to give some earthshattering wisdom or advise. However, I hope you do get a few nuggets out of this or at the very least become inspired to find out more on your own.

Though it isn’t always the case, all educators should work to be good leaders. In academia educators have to lead in multiple environments. They have to lead in both the conference room and in the classroom. In the classroom an educator is almost always in a position of power giving them the ability to direct and manage the environment, but that is the limit of that power. Their position alone does not give the educator the power to unite or inspire. This is important to note because this will directly impact the student outcomes of a course. An uninspired student will only ever do “just enough” and a single student will never be as capable as an entire group of students. 

Many of my colleagues may say my greatest quality is my ability to sacrifice, some will likely say I even do that a bit too much, but I like to think my greatest quality is altruism. That wasn’t meant to be an arrogant statement by the way, it’s just that I don’t consider devotion or determination a sacrifice unless it is altruistic. A sacrifice without altruism is really just selfish ambition. Altruism in the classroom is important on many levels most importantly is its application of empathy. Students have a hard-enough time seeing their professors as humans (some still find it shocking to see me outside of a classroom). When a professor shows empathy in the classroom, they are signaling that they are human too, both flawed and understanding, and this helps to build a better connection which leads to better communication and the ability to inspire. It is important to note that being empathetic should not make you a pushover, nor should it stop you from holding students accountable.

Altruism also means you’re concerned with their hopes and with their dreams. In my experience the quickest way to get a group to accomplish great things is to unite them around accomplishing their dreams. As art majors most of them have been told at some point in their lives that they will not amount to much, that they will not be able to provide for themselves, or that they simply need to stop fighting and to follow the rules. This means they have all in some way been damaged by cynicism. By believing in them, fighting for and with them, an educator can become more than just a dictator in the classroom, but a leader in their hearts.

Leadership in the conference room though soundly more difficult is NOT an entirely different beast. In this environment an educator is thrust into a political landscape where friendships and loyalties can change at a moment’s notice behind narcissistic egos, Machiavellian schemes, and divide and conquer tactics that would make Sun Tzu proud. Usually this is the result of the ambition for, protection of, or overuse of: power. However, positions of power in this environment generally work the same as they do in the classroom, giving one the ability to direct and manage the environment while also being the limit of that power. 

People in powerful positions almost always think of themselves as leaders. In some cases, they may even see themselves as great leaders (I’m looking at you Kim Jong-Un) when in fact many are simply managers who dictate or facilitate much like an uninspiring educator dolling out instructions while reading straight from the paper. Now, don’t get me wrong I’m not saying that there are not great leaders in powerful positions, but they do seem to be rare. I believe this is often times because ambition trumps altruism in this environment.

Altruism can be a dangerous quality to have in this conference room environment. Often times it comes face to face with extreme forms of cynicism. Brené Brown puts it best when she says in her book Daring Greatly:

“cynicism is derived from the despair that tomorrow will be just like today”

but his way of thinking only inspires lethargy or inaction. Altruism is usually labeled by cynics as “naïve and/or idealistic” and frowned upon, laughed at and discounted under the diatribes of “in my experience” and “we tried that before.” 

The powerful also fear the altruistic because they are difficult to control and rarely align with their ambitions and egos. World history is littered with inspiring populace leaders assassinated and imprisoned by dictators and powerful regimes. The conference room environment luckily never reaches this extreme but there are versions of these actions that take place in academia whether it’s a threatening meeting/ambush, a no vote on an annual review, or worse a denial of tenure. So, to the junior faculty out there… be careful. 

My altruism has been mistaken in the past for ambition (a miscalculation that may ultimately prove costly) but despite its dangers it is still my go-to quality for the conference room environment. 

Because in academia where budgets are shrinking and programs are disappearing, inspiration, hope, and unity are all needed now more than ever.