Leadership and Miami's Culture

After becoming involved in Wilks about a year ago, my definition of leadership has been altered, to the benefit of my future career as an educator and to my collaboration with others. Once an independent leader, I now value the leadership capabilities that all members of a group, including young children, can bring to the table. In other words, I adhere to the Wilks position of public leadership. Having never discussed the concept of public leadership before last year, I find it interesting how many ways it has affected the way I lead my everyday life.

All people are members of a range of cultures: ethnicity, religion, gender, socioeconomic status, etc. Each neighborhood, place of work, and educational institution has a culture. The list could extend infinitely. Lately, I have been more cognizant of the many cultures I belong to here at Miami. There is the culture of my residence hall, of my major in Early Childhood Education, and of the group of friends I predominantly do things with. But I am also part of the culture of Miami University as a whole, which is built not only of the cultures I am a part of but of hundreds of other cultures as well.

When looked at this way, the way we lead within our more specific cultures at Miami affects the culture of Miami as a whole. Knowing that our actions influence Miami's culture, we must take care to lead ethically. In my view, this involves public leadership, accepting the views, styles, and capabilities of others as valuable contributions to achieving a goal. Once I began to develop an understanding of public leadership, I noticed that it has affected my leadership in a wide range of contexts, from working with children to planning events in my residence hall, and it has made me more appreciative of collaboration.

The culture of the Wilks Institute and Scholar Leader community affected my leadership, and now I am able to apply what I've learned to other cultures I am a part of, which in turn affects them as well, even if only in very small ways. So I encourage all students at Miami to consider the effect their leadership has on the University's culture as well as how the cultures they are a part of affect their leadership.