The Young Leader and The Wall
by Antonio
I often wonder if leadership is something that an individual is born with or if, in fact, it can be taught. While aspects of leadership such as good communication skills, team work and problem solving are skills and attributes that can be honed and developed, does a person have an intrinsic “leadership nature”? Today I saw a young woman demonstrate just that. It had nothing to do with standing out as the loudest voice or most active participant. It manifested itself in a quiet way, looking upward 45 or 50 feet straight up in the air, surveying a climbing wall wearing borrowed sneakers. It concerned itself less with what others were thinking and more with the sheer excitement of a challenge. This young lady took on the medium and difficult portions of this wall and won. She demonstrated poise, concentration, courage and determination. But what struck me more than anything else was that by exercising her intrinsic “leadership nature”, she quietly demonstrated for the onlookers what it means to exercise it.