The Third Leadership Essay

The ability to communicate outside of one’s profession or discipline in a way that is relatable to the public is an act of political leadership. To do that effectively though, the would-be leader must learn how to observe, question, listen, and then act; and always they must be able and willing to translate complex ideas into simpler terms so the people outside of their following can understand and digest their ideas. These people must be patient, compassionate, and honest with themselves and with others. These are the types of people that earn the respect of those around them and make them worth listening to when they finally choose to speak, and worth watching when they finally choose to act. Their conduct must be irreproachable, and if they should falter, they must acknowledge their mistakes or shortcomings and work to correct them. That is the pedestal that we expect most of our leaders to stand upon, and while it is not fair, it is the unfortunate reality that they must live with, especially in this age without privacy. Some leaders didn’t choose to be great; they didn’t even choose to become leaders, they just acted in the ways that were most true to them and others followed in their footsteps. To not take action is inconceivable to some people, they were not made to sit on the sidelines and let history run its course, when every fiber of their being objected to what they saw, in their minds the only solution was action. Public action is always political.

There are some leaders who say little but act swiftly when needed. They don’t tell their stories; they show them in those actions. Whether it’s speaking up to correct someone who is supposed to be above them in the hierarchy of life, or spending time amongst the downtrodden, the stories are being written in those actions. “…convey their stories by the kinds of lives they themselves lead and, through example, seek to inspire in their followers (pg 9).” Some share their stories on their own terms, in their own words so that the general population can gain insight into the mind of someone else, either through written media, or speeches. The great leaders that transform the world around them know how and when to communicate their thoughts and stories with everyone else. Great leaders must display many types of intelligence, they must be able to understand the world around them on many levels, socially, scientifically, and emotionally. They must also learn how to follow before they try to lead, to do that they must be active listeners and observers of the world no matter which group people belong to if they are going to be able to cross divides. They must search for experiences and people outside of their typical domain to build a rich tapestry of diverse ideas to work with when they start trying to find solutions to the problems that they see. These are the major takeaways that I found in Howard Gardner’s book Leading Minds.

Humility seems to be the theme for leaders who simply want to help the world be a more equitable place to live for everyone. To be humble opens oneself up to learning, it makes a person ask questions and seek answers even if they may hurt the person. Humility seems to be the trait that allows all the forementioned ones the room to grow, the innate understanding that there is more to learn. Those that are truly humble can develop “a restless longing to know everything (pg 157)…” such as Pope John XXIII or as he was known when writing those words, Angelo Giuseppi Roncalli.  From his beginnings he had a hard but loved childhood, where he saw kindness even amid hardship, which seems to have left a mark on his soul that would remain with him throughout life. Gardner would say that this is the mark of the five-year-old mind, that when Angelo was becoming a person aware of the world around him, the openness that his family had for helping others even though they themselves didn’t have much would change an entire religion, and the world that watched in awe. For a man who had “sincerely come to believe that being unknown and little esteemed was most desirable (pg 156)” he ended up leaving an indelible mark none the less. As a modernist who learned alongside a mentor who nudged his religion by small increments to address the needs of the people, Angelo learned the unfortunate reality that not everyone wants to be thrust into the present, let alone the future. Some people would rather things remain the same or even better go back to a time when they had more power. Even though he was forced to hide his own thoughts due to a traditionalist Pope while he was rising through the Church ranks, he still collected the experiences and stories that would shape him when he came into power. “I can work in my own style, that is in the style of a Church, that is both teacher of all and always modern according to the demand of the times and the places (pg 150).”

It is precisely because he hid his thoughts that Angelo was able to attain the highest power of the Church. When a new pope was needed, “They (the Convocation) had come to view Roncalli as an amiable person – a safe choice – who would be liked by lay Catholics and pose no threat to their main concerns: the power of the Vatican curia and the hegemony of the established church doctrines (pg 161).” Beware those that others think they can control; they tend to have minds of their own. In this case, it worked out well for humanity, in some cases it fails to. Pope John’s dedicated principles were finally able to emerge, it wasn’t enough for him to call upon other Catholics to help him recalibrate the church to the modern needs of the people with the second Vatican Council. Pope John XXIII would go on to call upon the religious leaders of the world, all religions to help work on the problems that he was seeing, a divided world that felt like a powder keg just waiting for someone to either get rid of the fuse or light it. For him, diversity of backgrounds would help find the best solutions to the problems plaguing the world, “When he found that divergent opinions could not readily be reconciled, he arrived at the shrewd move of constituting a special commission that would comprise equal numbers of members from the competing perspectives (pg 163).” It is in listening to others with the aim of understanding them that solutions to complex problems can emerge. Pope John understood this principle and embraced it. That is what made him a remarkable leader. He chose not to see a person for their circumstances, their religion, their race or gender, but to see each individual as a human first. It is this compassion that let him shrug off the fears of being left behind that his fellow Catholic leaders had succumbed to, but it came with a price. The price in this case was the backlash upon Pope John XXIII’s death, the following reversion to tradition within the Church. While ripples are easily stopped, tidal waves reach inland, and the fact that Pope John had included so many voices outside of his personal religion and given them equal footing was a tsunami crashing upon the world. The Civil Rights movement in the United States was in full swing during Pope John’s time, and this platform helped amplify that message of equality.

The idea of equality is profound, and not at all new but in “suggesting that neglected groups actually had identities (pg 171)” was still something that the world wasn’t quite ready to hear when Eleanor Roosevelt was a young girl. Though she held no title, and carried no stick, her voice could be heard around the world and move it toward a more equal place. Her actions spoke louder than her words and showed her compassion for all, not just the privileged elite that she was born into. As a social researcher she had to stand up for herself “Simple networks of shared work and friendship sustained many political women who struggled for change and equality in a world they were not supposed to organize, a world that constantly erected barriers (pg 175)” resonates with the phrase “You’re not supposed to be here.” The voices of women were not supposed to be heard outside of their own enclaves in the 1920’s. They were supposed to take care of their children and husbands. Not every woman aspires to such vocation, they seek something more substantive, and it would take Eleanor the confrontation of her husband’s adultery to give her the confidence to attain her own status. Sometimes leaders only emerge when they choose to give themselves the agency to do so, when they are not afraid to embarrass themselves in the pursuit of their passions. In Mrs. Roosevelt’s case that meant advocacy work for the downtrodden, it meant touring the United States in her husband’s stead and meeting people from all walks of life while on the campaign trail. She became knowledgeable on the subjects that she held dear, and those that average people made her aware of. Her superpower was her ability to take what she observed and heard and turned it into something that everyone else could relate to. Through her use of the press, with her “My Day” column, she was able to tell the public about her experiences as the first lady, but also as a world citizen. 

As a world citizen and a first lady, she toured different parts of the earth, to gain firsthand knowledge that her husband could use in his presidency, letting him know what people were responding to. This gave Franklin the power of intelligence that all political leaders need, an insight into the needs and wants of the people they preside over, while being able to maintain a degree of separation that can lend political deniability if needed, “she pushed regularly for what she believed in, using every public and private opportunity to persuade Franklin of the merit of her perspective (pg 179).” From civil rights to human rights no problem seemed too large to fight for. It is a delicate balance of teamwork that the two of them shared, those things that one could not address publicly could be handed over to the other. Moreover, Eleanor understood her own significance and place in time. When she eventually became a member of the first U.S. delegation to the United Nations, “If I failed to be a useful member, it would not be considered merely that I as an individual had failed, but that all women had failed, and there would be little chance for others to serve in the near future (pg 182).” This profound understanding speaks to her ability to lead with compassion and humility, that she speaks and acts from the heart gives her credibility that cannot be diminished. It is said that children who grow up in strife, such as losing one’s parents at a young age like Eleanor did, either breaks a person, or forges them into something unstoppable; in Eleanor’s case the mold took a while to cool, but once it did, it shattered explosively, changing the entire world in its wake. Howard Gardner contends that Eleanor Roosevelt didn’t address women’s needs until later in life, but poverty more adversely affects women than men, and by fighting for the needs of the impoverished from such an early time, she was in fact fighting for women’s rights, just from a different point of view. Eleanor shared her stories by living them openly, by conversing with those that were different than her, and translating those stories into ideas that people from the privileged classes could relate to. That is a power that is often elusive in society, and it takes a highly skilled individual to do so, and a phenomenal leader to take up the task.

It takes an incomparable kind of person to become a great leader. Not in that they need to be of a certain class, race, religion, etc. in that they must have a confluence of characteristics that are rare to come across. They must be humble, and open to being wrong in so far as that they seek to learn in an effort to become correct, not right, but factually able to grasp the situations around them; to read the room. These leaders are able to organize what they learn with what they already know, able to change their mental models of the world as it adapts to new events and situations. They feel a calling to help society understand these complex changes and challenges and make people less scared in doing so. By breaking these problems down into manageable pieces for the public to digest, they are giving people agency over the world that they find themselves in. It is that understanding that compassion is a renewable resource, one that can be freely given and has the potential to change the world for the better, to make it more inclusive, and more just. The best leaders give their power freely to those that they think are in need of it, they lend their voices in chorus and the resounding echoes can be felt throughout time and space.

Work Citied:

Gardner, Howard, and Emma Laskin. Leading Minds : An Anatomy of Leadership. New York, Ny, Basicbooks, 2011.