The Lessons of Leadership by Jackson

The Lessons of Leadership by Jackson - July 2021 Scholarship Essay

I have dedicated a significant portion of my life to the marching arts. From doing my local high school marching band to marching with a highly competitive drum corps, I have spent countless hours perfecting my skills. Among the many lessons I have learned from this activity, leadership is the most prevalent. One of the most critical qualities to have as a leader is the ability to inspire others. Sure, anyone can be put in a leadership position and wield the authority that comes with it, but that's not what a true leader looks like. A true leader is someone who strives to be the best they can be, and in doing so inspires others to go above and beyond. I had the opportunity this past indoor percussion season to put this thought experiment to the test.
To me, I see every show I perform in as a little project where I normally am a small brushstroke in a beautiful painting. But this most recent year, I had the opportunity to play the painter itself. My local high school competed in both our local circuit and the nationwide WGI. Due to my experience and abilities, the ensemble trusted me to be the featured performer of the show. We put on a performance centered around Doctor Who, and I played the role of the Doctor. I brought the audience on a journey through time as I painted the picture that they saw as our show. This experience taught me so many valuable lessons about leadership within one's community. I came to learn from this season that you don’t need an official leadership position to be a leader. I strove to fulfill the expectations the ensemble had set before me. I didn’t see my soloist role as a right I was entitled to, but instead a privilege that the ensemble gave me. They trusted me to be the one who brought our little world to life. Because of this, I came to realize that they looked up to me, and I wasn’t going to let them down. They considered me a leader just as much as any other person with an official title. If I asked someone to do something, they would do it out of respect for me. This is what true leadership looks like in my opinion. The people in the drumline listened to me because they saw how much I cared. I was the kind of person they wanted to impress because I inspired them to be better.
Being a leader in one’s community is a difficult task. You have to walk the fine line of being their friend but also making sure what needs to get done gets done. Sometimes, that means you might have to work harder than everyone else, but that is the definition of a leader. You need to be the one willing to show people your passion, because if they see it, then more often than not, it inspires them to be better themselves.