On Leadership

I wrote this yesterday after a writing workshop on leadership.

This sounds terrible, but up until recently, I've yawned in leadership's face. Someone with a clipboard, microphone, conductor's stick. It's all been the same. YAWN.

Then, something deeper.

I yawned because that leadership is boring, the kind of person who barked at me for being too slow, the teacher who placed red Xs over my writing, and the priests who told me to be patient, be quiet, be good.

Leadership, in my experience, was men with authority, and for me, it was usually white men peering down at my 5'2 frame and telling me what to do and what not to do.

I never shied away from publich speaking. I've always loved groups, psychology, connection, conversation, and showing my passion to improve the world. But leadership? It was for people with power and God complexes.

And then I began experiencing transformation. I began recognizing the world collapsing around me: the lush green fading into murky brown; enslaving poverty in the international world; the voiceless, unheard children I worked with.

I became agitated, enraged, and recognized no one was coming. No leader I knew was coming to save me, or the children, or these women. No one was coming.

And then I saw myself. I was there.