Being The Most Popular Kid In Class Doesn't Work Forever

Readers,

I was asked to share this story from the NY Times with you guys. The source article can be found here. The article shares the name with my post title and was written by Dr. Christopher Howard, President of Hampden-Sydney College. It was published by the "NY Times inCollege In Leadership" column.

        I can recall vividly the seventh-grade student council

competition. My social studies teacher dutifully scanned the

classroom for volunteers, exhorting at least one of us to run for

office. Never shy to voice my opinion, it was not too difficult

for me to accept her charge. “Howie for Student Council”

posters joined similarly decorated signs for candidates vying

for a coveted position as a representative of the people. More

importantly, time drew nearer and nearer to the day when each

candidate was expected to give their campaign speech to students

waiting anxiously with open ears and closed minds.

        After the fifth candidate finished, it was my turn to speak.

I was passionate, energetic, and interested in helping my fellow

students; however, my talk was not terribly remarkable. But

regardless of my oratory skills, I had something every kid needed

to win an election: popularity. Like most other young people that

age, I equated popularity with leadership. Not much changed

during my successful runs for office through high school and

even college, but I eventually arrived at positions in the military,

Corporate America, non-profits, and higher education where,

by definition, making unpopular decisions represented effective

leadership. The desire to be popular had somehow become a

liability.

        As the president of Hampden-Sydney College, I am impressed

each day by young people who figuratively and literally want to

change the world. Through their work with clubs, organizations,

and even their very own 501(c)(3) corporations housed both

on and off campus, these young men work diligently for a

greater good, leading as best they know how. They support

popular causes and, not too unlike my seventh-grade student

council campaign, they remain generally well-liked by all they

encounter. But I think it is important to caution this at times

overly-confident generation, as well as the reader, that leadership

is not a popularity contest. Moreover, those of us who teach and

develop future leaders must educate these apt pupils on what is

just around the corner in their often peripatetic lives.

       Professor Ronald Heifetz of the John F. Kennedy School of

Government at Harvard University often talks about leadership

being a dangerous place. It is even more so for young people

if they transition to leadership roles unprepared mentally,

emotionally, spiritually, and even physically for the daunting

tasks at hand. As old-fashioned as it may sound, we need

to provide opportunities for emerging leaders to develop

toughness—or what Dr. Angela Duckworth from the University

of Pennsylvania calls GRIT—if they are to survive and thrive in

the 21st century.

        I am not arguing for a Dickensian grey world consisting

of ritualistic slaps on the wrist, just because. However, I am

reminding scholars and practitioners of leadership education

alike to recall that no matter how elegant an idea may be, it

often takes an individual with the courage to endure some

degree of deprivation to see it through to the end.

Perhaps the best way of achieving this goal is to intentionally

link character education to leadership development, with the

appropriate crucible experiences incorporated along the way.

Good examples include individuals like Bob McDonald, CEO

of Proctor & Gamble, and Colonel Mark Hyatt, Executive

Director of the Foundation for Character Development, who

sponsor important initiatives that assist with positive character

formation.

        The military calls it the “loneliness of command,” while

others, describing the quintessential leadership role, the

American Presidency, describe it as “the glorious burden.”

Whichever title one chooses, leadership is not a seventh-grade

student council election. We must keep this precept in mind

when developing the next generation of leaders.

Now, I don't usually just post things like this without commenting on them, and I'm certainly not going to start now. I'm not sure why the anonymous reader asked me to share this article written by Dr. Christopher Howard. It's a nice piece, though. I understand where Dr. Howard is coming from, though I was never one to run for student leadership positions. I hated the institution of "class presidents" in High School because it was always the dumb popular jocks that won. (I'm not saying all popular people are dumb, that all jocks are dumb, or that all jocks are popular, or anything of that nature. That's just kinda how it turned out at my school).

That being said, I can't help but notice that there is still a fair bit of that going on in college. Now, I'm sure the students elected to positions this year at HSC will do fine, but they weren't necessarily the ones I voted for. I did however, notice that when I asked people who they were voting for and why, a disappointingly common response was "I just think he's cool." Another: "He's my friend. I have to vote for him!" And, of course, my favorite: "Well I'm not going to vote for someone who has no chance of winning. . ."

The student leaders that end up being elected to position at Hampden-Sydney are usually fairly competent, and I have very few negative things to say about any of them. I do find it disconcerting that I hear comments like those around election times. It is that exact sort of sentiment that kept me from running for the office of President for this past year. I didn't think there was any chance of winning, and I didn't really see the point, so I stuck to my academics, instead. I'm not at school to lead, anyway.

Anyway, that's pretty much all I have to say on this article. Do you guys have anything you would like to say? Responses? Leave a comment, please, and if you have any stories of your own to share, pelase email me at walter.mccoy91@gmail.com!

--Your Editor.