Let's Redefine Leadership by Isabel

Let's Redefine Leadership by Isabel - March 2017 Scholarship Essay

“Leadership” is a trigger word for our high school class, one that seems to invoke bloodlust in the heart of every sixteen year old as we gun each other down to gain these coveted positions.
“Leadership” — before my first performance in the Fall Drama, all I knew about it was that it was something colleges liked to see. Thus, we all set out to take on more responsibility. I organized class fundraisers, managed social justice groups, and planned educational campaigns for the school. To me, and to many others, leadership became defined by our actions as “the boss.”
This interpretation proved faulty on the opening night of my first Fall Drama. My anxieties were running high, so like a good sergeant I dragged myself into the hallway to recite lines over and over again, up until five minutes before the opening scene. I was relentless; I pledged that I would never, ever forget a single comma in my monologue, let alone an entire line. I promised myself that I would not let my cast mates down.
I stood on stage in Shakespearean garb, ready to convince the audience that I was not a sixteen-year-old girl named Izzy, but rather a sixteenth century wise guy named Mercutio. My opening line pounded through my head syllable by syllable and I was just itching to let it out. All I needed was my cue.
But my cue didn’t come. For a moment I thought I had gotten confused, but then I turned around and saw Romeo.
He stood center stage, his mouth agape, his eyes boring into mine as if he would somehow find his line there.
I suddenly remembered the promise I had made to myself: I would not let my cast mates down. I knew then that I couldn’t leave him physically and proverbially hanging there. I crossed the stage, laughed grandly, and threw my arms around him in camaraderie. I lowered my voice to below a whisper, and thanked God that I wasn’t wearing a microphone. Into his ear I didn’t ask him, but I rather told him, “Is love a tender thing?”
The words shot from Romeo instantly. “Is love a tender thing?,” he asked, “It is too rough, too rude, too boisterous, and it pricks like thorn.”
The rest of the night went without rude interruption, and members of the audience later told me that they didn’t notice that Romeo had almost forgotten a line. I felt relieved that I had helped my cast mate avert potential embarrassment. That night I gained a new insight as to what leadership really was. A leader has to rely on people, but people also have to rely on her. A leader does more than learn her own lines; she makes sure others learn theirs, too. And when they don’t, she will learn theirs for them, and make sure that she is always there when disaster inevitably strikes.
Leadership is about others, not yourself. Instead of running over each other for titles and prestige, let's build each other up. Let's make each other into leaders. Let's redefine leadership here, and wherever else we set our sights on.