Dancing to the Beat: A Head, Heart, Hands Approach to Leadership

Last weekend, I, alongside two-thousand other college students, attended a conference called Jubilee in Pittsburgh sponsored by the Coalition for Christian Outreach. The forty-eight exciting hours were filled with nationally-renowned speakers and popular bands, with thoughtful artwork and close friends, but the aspect of the conference that has become the most important part of me is unexpectedly simple: an image of a drummer. Maybe I respected him because, although I play piano and guitar fairly well, drums will always be outside my expertise; maybe I admired with him because of his willingness to take a role in leading a primarily-Caucasian conference as an African-American; and maybe I was drawn to him because he was just that good at playing drums. Whatever the reason, I claim him as a picture of the leader I strive to be: one who utilizes all of himself to create an enjoyable, consistent beat that purposefully drives others from one place to another.

Just as the drummer’s emotional contribution to the modern worship songs and traditional hymns revealed a deeper source, so do I strive to found my leadership on a heart of passion and integrity. Growing up as a shy, often-detached introvert, my immature leadership desperately needed to learn to adopt and funnel emotion to help inspire others’ enthusiasm, and what better way to do so than to be led to volunteer with junior high and high school students. My first opportunity to lead the music at a week-long youth retreat was met with confusion and disappointment, as the youth pastor retook the reigns less than halfway through the week. It didn’t take me long to notice that, although I was a better musician and more thoughtful administrator, his passion carried over into the students’ worship and touched them in ways beyond me. Becoming more real and enthusiastic in music took time, but it was much easier than applying similar principles in other leadership settings. Students in junior high have little-to-no trouble sitting down to sing, but remaining involved in a forty-five minute lesson is another matter entirely: soap-box lectures and surface-level excitement are recognized and disregarded almost immediately. This helped to reveal the necessity of integrity: others’ enthusiasm isn’t earned by fake passion, and others’ respect isn’t deserved if plans aren’t built and work isn’t accomplished ethically. Leadership founded in a heart of pure passion directed by intentional integrity is one-third of the way towards success.

Just as the drummer’s mastery of technique enabled him to flawlessly and immediately translate thoughts to beats, so do I strive to lead with a head grounded in logic and humility to the point that vision effectively translates to action. Fall 2004 marked the beginning of my service learning experience with Washington County Health Partners, and I entered under the agreement that I would work at the office one day a week to revamp a database of all of the organization’s contacts, the needs for which had evolved dramatically since its creation four years earlier. After gaining the initial information, I dove into the work with a clear vision for what the database should become. It unfortunately took me a long time to realize that, although I had succeeded in understanding what needed to be done, I had failed in thinking through the best steps to accomplish the goals. While I was pondering my disorganized advances, the employees of the organization were wondering about my progress. I eventually improved the structure of the project and developed better lines of communication with those for whom I was working, lessons learned that I appreciate much more now than the knowledge gained about databases and non-profit organizations. Applying logical planning and humble communication to more-recent leadership activities has been paramount: the envisioned results for last year’s junior high retreat to Johnstown or this year’s Thirty-Hour Famine could have never been achieved without the willingness to share opinions, compromise on ideas, and come to an approved strategy for approaching the event. Leadership conducted with a logical and humble head that takes time to plan and effort to incorporate others’ wisdom comes another third of the way towards success.

Just as the drummer’s hands were constantly involved in the creation of the envisioned music, so do I strive to lead as a fellow participant fighting for a common goal. Mentoring college students at Washington & Jefferson College is the most difficult job I’ve ever undertaken, not because of the unclear requirements and lack of accountability, but mainly because it involves trying to assist freshmen in an area in which they never asked for help. Too often, the communal attitude about Freshmen Forum quickly becomes, “This is pointless. Why am I being forced to do this?” Mentors who only see their role as to help the freshmen tolerate the activities and the course while maintaining a safe distance from the whole situation fail to lead the freshmen into an understanding of the learning environment at W&J. Incoming students have no need of more people to tell them to try to do their best and enjoy what they can – they need others to step up and show them what it means to enter into the discussion and be sovereign over their learning and be on the path towards a liberal education. Mentoring was the position I held where I was most tempted to remove myself from the project, to absolve myself of getting my hands dirty, but I thankfully realized that it was just the situation that needed my active participation the most. I devoted myself to attending class and keeping up with reading in hopes that students would have a model of continued learning and participation in the conversation. Right attitudes in the heart and thoughts in the head are vitally important when leading, but if they fail to translate into shared action with others’, the leadership is incomplete.

So many simple illustrations exist for exemplary leadership: those liking alliteration may hold to “Passion, Planning, and Participation;” people adept with pictures may choose “Heart, Head, and Hands;” idealists can support “Envisioning over Administering.” Some of the leaders who follow these most closely may see their projects fail, and others knowing less about leadership may enjoy their projects’ success. But whether the results are failure or success, I will be able to rest if I can, like the drummer, create a beat with a source of passion and integrity, a foundation of logic and humility, and an expression of shared participation. At the end of the day, leadership remains more difficult and complicated than any story or saying, and the only way to do it better is to do it more while learning from and applying past experiences.