What are the Characteristics of a Good Leader?

 

Recently a U. of Minn alumnus, a former member of the U-YMCA and long-time friend, told me about a blog the U-Y had started. He added that Jenny Collins, the U-Y’s current director, was interested in having a U-Y alumnus participate, too. The two asked if was interested.

 

I was intrigued, certainly, but wondered . . .  why an alumnus? After all, this was the students’ blog!  As I thought more about the idea, however, I realized that perhaps the perspective I have today on my experience at the U-Y could act as a kind of “book-end”  to today’s students’ experience. While current U-Y members’ blog contributions seem to reflect what their time at the U-Y means to them today, and particularly as it relates to leadership, I hope my thoughts offer a glimpse of how the skills learned and perspectives gained at the U-Y can be valuable throughout one’s life. That said, just contemplating contributing to the blog has also prompted me to again examine the U-Y’s impact on my life. . . . and frankly, I’m already quite surprised at how profound it was!  

 

To be a good leader doesn’t necessarily mean you need to be an outgoing, gregarious extrovert, it took me a number of years to realize that, especially because I’d always been quite shy! I still clearly remember seeing people – fellow students and adults – who were seemingly comfortable in front of groups and/or leading others and thinking that I could never be like them, yet today I am also a leader with my own style.

 

The metamorphosis began for me thanks to a U-Y program –– a week-long stint in the BWCA through YMCA Camp Menogyn. My week in the BWCA wilderness was, in retrospect, a fundamentally life-changing event for many reasons that I may expand on in a future post. For now, I’ll just focus on one. Our guide, Paul, was, in my view, the antithesis of a wilderness guide. In stark contrast to the brawny outgoing “woodsman” I’d expected, he was a somewhat quiet and slim fellow. Although not always the best communicator, he still always had a sense of how each of us was doing. He was encouraging and supportive, and somehow able to convince each of us that we could manage the portages, bugs, muscle pain and exhaustion while still finding the fun and humor in our trip! Still a “city boy” at the time, I couldn’t figure out why he or anyone would want to spend a whole summer like that! As I’ve often found, you never know what  lies around life’s next corner. As a result of that  one trip, I went on to guide canoe and backpacking trips for Menogyn campers for the following six or seven summers!

 

I’m quite sure Paul had no idea of the extent of the impact he and that trip had on me and on my future! It was through this experience that I realized that being a leader wasn’t always about being or acting “in charge,” or even just about what you say. It’s also about who you are as a person. It’s about being able to open up, to connect with others, and to listen. My experience with the U-Y changed the arc of my life in many positive ways, and for that I am always grateful.

 

Have you had an experience that changed the way you think about leadership. …and  if so, how did that happen?

 

Joe Moriarity