Shaping A Young Mind for Leadership

As I think about a famous leader than shaped my view of leadership, I had trouble thinking back that far to a leader that I had seen in the media.  But one person did finally come to my mind: Condoleezza Rice.  As a woman of power seen on TV, her pose and public speaking abilities were my thought of how a leader should be.  I viewed a woman in leadership as someone who had to be posed at all times, very put together and very intelligent.  "This is the only type of leadership" was my thought for many years, until college.

Once in college, I began to learn about leadership styles and different types of leadership and my leadership lens widened and became more defined.  After three years, a model of leadership for me is Sheryl Sandberg.  After reading her book Lean In and watching her TEDtalk, I saw a person, a woman at that, who encompassed a lot of the leadership traits that I had learned about.  She would not consider herself a leader, just a woman who sits at the table and leans in.  She learned how to be an effective leader through shadowing and observing others, such as Mark Zuckerberg.  She also believes in the power of words and positive messages for self motivation.  Her movement of Lean In has gained momentum throughout the country with both men and women.  As she says in her book, it was encouragement from others that brought on the movement after the TEDtalk.  She broke my idea that a woman leader must have it all together at all times.  She is honest to her audience that she does not have it all together and that she knows all the answers.  Her realistic manner to bring awareness to the issue of women in leadership positions in businesses has spoken to people around the country and the world.  She has taught me, a shy, introverted girl, to be a woman who sits at the table and leans in.