Training to Become an Effective Leader

by Brandon Polanco on February 21, 2017

I don’t believe that people are born with an innate ability to be good at anything. In fact, phrases like “They were born to…”, “natural born leader” and “it’s in their blood” are amongst my many pet peeves. I refuse to believe that anyone can just be born with these magical genes that will make them blossom into the next  Serena Williams, Kendrick Lamar, or Barack Obama.

What I do believe in, however, is dedication and hard work. Many of the figures and artists that we look up to today in mainstream media weren’t born with a magical power that made them develop skills to be excellent in their fields. They worked torwards where they are today. They put in significant amounts of time, sweat, fear, and discomfort to be where there are today. What seperates people who perceive themselves to not to be good at something, and those who excel, isn’t a case of biology. It’s a clear difference in their willingness to go through the uncomfortable transition between mediocore and great.

I find myself today in that very transition. As I now begin to realize just how quickly time is passing, I also begin to come to terms with the fact that many of the upperclassmen leaders today won’t be around much longer. They’ll eventually graduate and move on to do amazing things. Eventually, the weight will fall on the next generation. The underclassmen.

That realization scares me. Like, REALLY scares me. Eventually, I will find myself having to take over the same positions that these amazing students once held. Am I ready for that?

For years, I fed lies to myself, and allowed others to push their insecurities onto me. I’ve long held the belief that I wasn’t born to lead. As a result, I participated in the bare minumum amount of leadership roles as possible. I was scared to fail.

However, 2016 and the month we have into 2017 have told me otherwise. I’ve received the blessing to attend this school under the Posse scholarship, which is a leadership-based award that brings ten incredible student leaders onto campus every year, with the intention of having them be a catalyst for change both on campus and beyond. Honestly, upon first glance of their mission statement, I didn’t think much of it. That was, of course, until I actually reached campus, and observed the amount of space there is to implement positive change. This, along with my realization of the upcoming shifts in leadership, made me reconsider what Posse’s mission statement meant in my life.

Before returning for Winter Term, I found myself in my room back in New York during break, flipping through the notes my friends, family and teachers had written me prior to my first term of the year. They all told me that they’re excited to see what I’ll bring to campus. Obviously, they saw me as a leader. Why didn’t I?

I decided to break ties with my insecurities after I came back to school for Winter Term. I took up the Winter Leadership Challenge Certificate program this term. Over the last few weeks, under the guidance of Nicholas Paulson, I was taught the essential skills needed to be an effective leader on campus and beyond. As I took the course, I realized that many of these qualities that I was being taught were qualities that I already held!

We just wrapped up the program last Tuesday, and I have a whole folder worth of notes that I can look back to as a guide to help me as I begin seeking leadership positions on campus. We all have ideas. We all have things we want to change. However, the leaders are the ones who follow through with these ideas and turn them into action. The followers are the ones who sit around and make excuses, and use every opportunity to blame their inaction on this imaginary conept that they are not leaders. We ALL are leaders. I’m ready to start acting like one.

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