Un-defining Leadership

We get it. Honestly, we know that un-defining is really not a word. But all the same, it fits in with what we believe to be true about leadership so well that we took the creative liberty of making a word that would work for us. One of the things that we strongly support, encourage and cultivate here in the Student Outreach Services office is leadership. We believe that everyone has the power to be a leader and change the world. However, some people struggle with viewing themselves as a leader, or thinking that they have the potential to take action and create change. We feel that leadership is often a term that is confined to a specific definition. There are those who say that to be a leader you must have money, power, and a huge following of people to really be a "real" leader. We disagree. We feel anyone has the capacity to lead and everyone has the capacity to make a difference. We don't believe that it is enough to redefine leadership, as just by doing that you risk the possibility of limiting the people that will fit into the new definition. We think that we should un-define what it means to be a leader, so that more people will feel comfortable in that role. By un-defining what it means to be a leader, we can open the doors for more people to call themselves leaders and to go out and make a difference. In true TEDx spirit, we have found a two of our favorite TEDx and TED talks that are all about different definitions and ways to view leadership. 


Drew Dudley: Leading with Lollipops

Derek Sivers: How to Start a Movement

If you have a way that you think helps to Un-define Leadership, please let us know!