Hills 1

C. Rapley Hills

Mr. Joseph Fetsch

Retrospective

12 April 2023

Anybody can be a leader. A leader is someone who has one or many people following

what they do. The problem, though, is what makes a good leader. This is where the definition of

a leader becomes hazy, due to the subjective nature of the word “good.” Over the past four

months, I have had the experience of being able to apply class lectures, guest speakers’ speeches,

and pop culture items, among other things, to leadership and what makes a good leader.

Leadership can be given or earned, which is why there may be some debate on what makes a

leader good or bad. Some leaders may be given official power, whereas others may not have any

power. To me, a leader is someone that people naturally follow, regardless of whether or not he

or she has any official power. Leaders are people that can perform tasks that a lot of other people

do not have the capacity or will to perform. A true leader is also someone who is not interested in

power, but rather, achieving a greater goal of the people that he or she is leading. In other words,

the key things a leader must do are earn his or her power, be confident in his or her decisions,

and act modestly in representing those that he or she is leading.

The first key to being a leader is earning respect and power from those that are being led.

There are many people that are put into leadership roles, but they have not gained the respect of

the people they are leading. Unfortunately, this point is proved by many presidential

administrations. Some people come into office with the respect of other countries and

constituents alike, and others only have power due to the role that they are placed in. Power and

respect are two very different things, and, in my opinion, respect is the much more important of
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the two when it comes to being a leader. This concept is something that we have covered

numerous times throughout the semester and some examples of times where some people lead

with respect and some do not came up in multiple classes or assignments, such as my movie

review assignment, and Ron Burgess’s speech (January 31st).

In my movie review, I chose to dissect Jack Sparrow’s leadership techniques. A ship

captain is a great example of someone who has informal power, as they usually are not given the

position, but rather elected. Jack Sparrow is well respected, and this is proved by the constant

reminder that his name is not “Jack Sparrow,” rather “Captain Jack Sparrow.” At no point in the

movie is Captain Jack in an official seat of power, and yet he constantly has the respect and

attention of his crewmates and enemies. He has virtually no assigned power, but somehow he

still manages to have a lot of the people around him stay loyal. This is also important because the

nature of piracy is to betray everyone, but Captain Jack manages to avoid this. He also is a great

public speaker, and he can manipulate people into doing what he needs done, without them even

knowing it. One point of conflict in At World’s End is an election for who should become the

new pirate king. This election process has never worked because every pirate always votes for

him or herself, but in this movie, Jack is the only pirate who does not vote for himself; he votes

for one of his allies whose goals align the most with his, which goes to show that Captain Jack

Sparrow can put power aside in order to achieve something that he believes is for the greater

good.

Another example of someone who has earned respect and power is Lieutenant General

Ron Burgess, the Chief Operating Officer of Auburn. He was one of the most influential guest

speakers that we had this semester. He is an extremely experienced and wise man. He spoke to us

about his experiences working for the Defense Intelligence Agency and other jobs he's had and
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shared some pointers on how to get ahead. Although he has been in many appointed or assigned

positions, he is someone that commands respect when he speaks; if he speaks up, it is wise to

listen to what he has to say. This kind of power is the type that cannot be given or bought, only

earned. One part that stuck with me was how he said that if he did not know something that he

needed to share with someone, especially a superior such as the president the next day, he would

spend all night becoming an expert on it. This made him very valuable and is a good lesson in

how to become a respected leader.

The second key to being a leader is confidence. Confidence is a word that can be applied

to anything from decision making, to how one deals with pressure, to how humble one is.

Leaders must be able to make a decision and stick with it, no matter what the consequences are.

The catch here is that the decision must be for the greater good of the group. Majority rule does

not always mean a decision is the right one, so if a leader has to make a decision that is widely

disliked but for the greater good of a group, he or she must be able to defend their action. This

also reinforces the previously stated point about respect; a well respected leader can make these

decisions with the trust of the people being led. Two guest speakers who exemplified this point

are Dr. Nikki Gross and Lindsay Holdren.

Dr. Nikki Gross, the Auburn University Marching Band Director, is a very confident and

well put together person. During her speech on February 23rd, she described herself as a Type-A

personality, and this directly translates into how she works. In order to manage and lead the

amount of people in the band, she has to run a tight ship. She spoke a lot about confidence and

how she had to apply herself in many on the fly situations. During a game for example, her boss

ran into an emergency and Dr. Gross had to step in to lead the marching band. She was prepared

enough to take over fairly smoothly, but was very nervous to do so. She saw that she had to be
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the courageous person in the situation in order to save the day. Something else she stressed was

the importance of not spreading oneself too thin. Self confidence is extremely important as a

leader, but so is confidence in the people that are being led. Delegating specific tasks to people

who have strengths in those areas makes leading a whole lot easier.

Lindsay Holdren (March 14th) is another very confident speaker that we had this

semester. She was one of the most relatable speakers because she is closer in age to me. The

main thing I got from her was that it is important to follow my gut on big decisions. Most of the

decisions she made, she had a lot of people tell her that she couldn't or wouldn't succeed, and she

did it anyway and it worked out well in most cases. This is especially important during many

college students’ senior years, and I am no exception. Often times, people can get bogged down

with the warnings, opinions, and pressures of other people and events, but Ms. Holdren is a good

reminder that things can go the way that they are meant to if we do what we feel is right. Being

confident in ourselves is a great way to show leadership and move up in any circles one may be

involved in.

The final key to being a good leader is modesty. The quote, “A true leader does not seek

power,” can be applied here. What this means is that a leader is chosen. Throughout a term of

leadership, humble values and kindness must be applied. For example, if a leader decides that

they no longer are acting in the best interest of his or her group, they must step down and allow

for a new leader to step in. Additionally, a leader being placed in a position of power should not

cause harm to any other candidates. This too can be applied to politics, as many candidates rely

on negative press more than anything else in order to win. If the main goal of someone seeking a

leadership position is to gain power, that person is not worthy of being in that position. Pat

Lencioni and Coach Bruce Pearl help support the idea of modest leadership.
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Pat Lencioni, who spoke in our class on February 2nd, is someone who is an extremely

modest leader. Just by talking with him, anyone can see that he gains his respect by not talking

about himself, but rather focusing his efforts on trying to understand whomever he is talking to.

He told the class that when he goes into a meeting, he always asks about siblings and birth order

of everyone in the room. This is extremely interesting because it generally lowers everyone’s

guards before the meeting has even started. What is interesting about this is that he is able to

accomplish much more than other types of leaders that are not as personal. By doing a lot of

research on personality types, Mr. Lencioni is able to connect with people by staying on their

level, which is a modest way of gaining informal respect (aka leadership power).

Bruce Pearl is the embodiment of a modest leader. Though we did not hear him speak in

class, we watched previous years videos of him, and it is very comforting to hear someone of his

status talk to students about his experience in a way that does not belittle us. He speaks a lot on

how he handles basketball losses, and when asked how he answers questions regarding

downturns in Auburn basketball, he usually responds in a way that puts him at fault. A leader

that never admits defeat is weak, and Coach Pearl is the furthest thing from that. It is easy for

fans of any team to blame bad games on the coaches, but to hear the coach admit what is wrong

is extremely respectable. Another thing that he talked about was how he wants his players to

respond when he asks a question. Some players will tell him what he wants to hear and others

will tell him their actual opinion. Coach Pearl explained that he would much rather hear an actual

opinion because he can either learn a new way of thinking about something, or turn the response

into a learning experience for the team. This shows me that he does not care about being right or

being the only one that can come up with new ideas, which is, in essence, acting with modesty.

Coach Pearl’s abundant use of modesty is not only shown on the court, but also in his approval
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ratings of the fans. He is someone that very few people dislike, and despite him not having the

best record, most alumni, players, and students, can agree that he will go down in history as one

of the most influential and memorable Auburn basketball coaches.

Leadership is difficult to define due to it having different meanings to most people.

However, I believe that most people would agree that earning the respect of his or her people,

acting confidently, and being modest, are all extremely important attributes of being a great

leader. Over the course of the semester, I have learned so much about how to become a better

leader and what leadership means. From personal anecdotes to lectures, the blueprints of being a

leader are laid out and can help guide the decisions I will be faced with.