To Lead or Not To Lead…
by Zachary Kushel, Opinions Asst. Editor on February 10, 2010 in Opinion
While many Kennedy School students were touring the developing world, sipping piña coladas in a tropical setting, or working to earn some much needed rent money, I had the good fortune of completing Professor Heifetz’s Leadership on the Line workshop over winter break. The two-week long course prompted for many students an introspective journey into the inner dimensions of one’s soul.
For me, the course was not only reflective in nature but thought provoking. When it was finished, I was still not convinced whether the exercise was one of complete genius or utter folly. However, I did leave with many unanswered questions that I could use to torment myself with over the coming semester.
Is it ever justifiable to shy away from leadership? When is it okay to simply walk away, determining that the costs of sticking your neck out are not worth the benefits? How do you separate your true inner-self from the various roles that you inhabit and the multitude of hats that you wear on different occasions? How selfless is too selfless, and how selfish is too selfish?
In our study of public policy and administration, too seldom is there discussion regarding tradeoffs that inevitably come with careers grappling with some of the world’s toughest, migraine-inducing issues. The greater the import of your work, the more public scrutiny you will be subjected to. The more senior your position, the less amount of time you will have to call your own.
While on paper you may hold a position of great power, the substantial responsibilities that you will have to your various constituencies will leave you virtually powerless to control your own time commitments. Who really aspires to that? Are the supposed benefits to the masses really worth the personal costs?
When we observe corporate executives or senior government officials leaving their posts in order to ‘spend more time with their family,’ many of us scoff at the notion, assuming that making such a statement is simply a pretense for a forced resignation. But how many of these individuals actually resign for this reason? And of those who don’t resign, how many probably should?
It is very easy to have your entire life consumed by a demanding mission, by the pursuit of a goal, and by serving a cause greater than one’s self interest. Given your presence here at the Kennedy School, it is likely that you believe that there is nothing nobler than serving such a cause. But where does the line get drawn? What personal cost is too high a cost to pay?
In recent weeks, many individuals – some of whom we know – have dropped everything in their lives to head to Haiti to work around-the-clock for the relief efforts. In a similar manner, others dedicated their lives after Katrina, the Asian tsunami, and 9/11.
While this appears on the surface to be the ultimate act of service, perhaps some of these individuals neglected their families by leaving. Perhaps, in serving thousands abroad, a few were perishing back at home. Perhaps some of them should not have gone. Perhaps the interests of strangers should not have taken precedence over those closest to them.
In the coming years, we all will be faced with difficult decisions and will try to strike a balance between our personal and professional lives. Many of us are faced with these difficult decisions today, having to choose course schedules around family commitments and miss school events to raise children.
But for a multitude of reasons, we all have difficulty in discussing these issues openly. Females worry that their discussion of the topic will lead to them being perceived as less committed and reliable than their male counterparts. Yet, as difficult as it is for women, it is even still more difficult for men – they feel that they are likely to be labeled as unmanly and weak for discussing the very same dilemma. Despite these difficulties, choices about what type of personal life one wants to lead must weigh heavily in our professional lives.
When we arrived here at the Kennedy School, the administration assured us, over and over again, that the admission’s committee does not make mistakes and that we were admitted here for good reason. But such rhetoric only feeds into the expectations game of what it means to be a Kennedy graduate. If you ultimately make the decision to avoid public life to focus on your efforts at home, does that not make you unsuccessful by HKS standards? And should you care even if it does?
Us Harvard-types are generally uncomfortable walking out of a classroom pondering how to evaluate one’s life, how to view success, and, even, the meaning of life – after all, why are we paying all of this money if our courses can’t provide us with any answers?
But we should know better than that. Using society’s measuring stick or that of your peers and colleagues is a fool’s errand. We know we have to figure this out for ourselves, to chart our own course, to determine how best to steer our own ship.
Happy sailing…
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