For our final senior class, we were invited to meet Dr. Graham Spanier. Considering the events of “The Scandal,” Dr. Spanier was out of office by the time our class was admitted into the PLA. Therefore, we never had the chance to meet him, which was unfortunate. Thankfully, we were able to have this Q & A session with him yesterday. There is a lot to be learned from Dr. Spanier. It’s evident that he has a certain confidence in himself as a leader, but he is still approachable and easy to talk to. The part of the conversation that struck me the most was when Charnice asked, “how important is humility to you in leadership?” At first, I thought he give a short answer, simply stating that humility is very important in leadership. However, he answered that humility is important but it is also important for a leader to not be too humble, because then they will not be taken seriously. This answer struck me the most because I realized that I might fall into this pitfall of trying to be an overly-humble leader.
Immediately, I began questioning how my humility might have negatively impacted my leadership over the years. If you look at a blog post a few weeks back, I discussed stepping down as SMART’s president, but that decision was not rooted in my weak leadership skills (well, maybe slightly). I couldn’t think of an instance off the top of my head, but Dr. Spanier’s comment does make me think differently about future leadership skills. I have always thought that it was very important for a leader to be humble, and I have taken that approach ever since. I am the type of leader that wants everyone to see me as their equal counterpart, and I don’t talk about the things that I have done. As I analyze my leadership style, however, I think my humbleness does not interfere with my being assertive. I like to get things done, so when it comes down to it, I’m not a meek leader. Maybe that’s why I haven’t found my humility to impact my leadership too negatively. This is something I will have to continue thinking about.
As I move forward, however, Dr. Spanier’s comment about humility and leadership will definitely continue to stick out in my mind. His comment is a nice reminder that it is okay for me to accept being the leader and to be confident in that role; people will likely respect me more if I do so. I also need to learn how to be able to talk about myself and my accomplishments without feeling uncomfortable or trying to downplay them to seem less important. I am proud of the things I’ve done, and I should be confident enough to express and share that with others.
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