Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/celebrating-the-many-ways-to-be-a-leader/5022664/
I have always been a terrific follower. I’ve been a valued staff member, a loyal churchgoer, a dependable maker of cookies for the bake sale. I've kept the books, made the phone calls, attended the meetings, and taken the notes. But when the opportunity came to lead a team on a medical mission trip to the Dominican Republic opened up, I jumped right in. I'm not a CEO or a nurse or a doctor, but a librarian with some useful organizational skills. After almost 10 years I’ve learned that background isn't important, that leadership takes many forms, and the most important is a willingness to serve: to offer encouragement and opportunity, to speak up for right, to care for others.
Leaders may come from unexpected places. Patricia Polacco's stories and pictures usually begin somewhere in the truth of her own life. In Mr. Wayne's Masterpiece,she is a tongue-tied young writer and painter who is talented in many ways but can't, despite encouragement from all corners, let her light shine. Her drama coach, Mr. Wayne, leads by encouraging her to discover within herself the tools she needs to untie her tongue and become her shining self before an audience, indeed, to learn to ...