Tuesday 19 March 2013
Lollipop Moments- A New Take on Leadership
As idealistic as this may sound, I want to change the world.This may sound cliché coming from an International Development student, but it is the aim of all 'indev' students in some shape or form. I started this program believing that changing the world meant eradicating poverty and that I would acquire the skills to create significant changes, that benefit the impoverished on a large scale. I hoped that I would one day be a great leader who would change the world. But after three years of university I've realized that I can't change the world as I had hoped because in our world, some level of poverty will always exist. Therefore my interpretation of becoming a great leader has changed.
I recently watched a TEDx video by Drew Dudley entitled 'Leading with Lollipops' (click here to watch the video). Drew talks about what it means to be a leader. He says that we have made leadership into something bigger than us. We have made it about changing the world.We spend so much time celebrating things that are almost impossible for the average person to accomplish, that we are convinced that those are the only things worth celebrating, and we start to devalue the things that we can do everyday that truly makes us leaders. These everyday moments are what he calls lollipop moments- a moment when someone said something or did something that fundamentally made your life better. How many times have you experienced a moment like this? Even if you can only remember being on the receiving end of a lollipop moment, I am sure that we have all had a positive impact on someone's life. These moments are true leadership moments but as long as we continue to uphold leadership as something that is beyond us and about changing the world, we are making excuses not to expect it from ourselves in our personal and professional lives on a daily basis.
We have made leadership about changing the world, but the world is simply six billion different understandings, so as long as we can change one persons understanding of what they are capable of, how important they are, and how powerful an agent for change they can be, you have changed everything. Leadership is about valuing the impact that we can have on each other's lives that is greater than money, power, influences, and titles.
My goal is still to change the world and become a great leader but in a different way. My aim is to create as many lollipop moments as I can with the people that I will be interacting with on my upcoming field placement. I hope to inspire them to multiply this effect and create positive change.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Once again, you enlighten me on things I don't necessarily think of all the time. I never sat and thought about these "lollipop moments" but when I do take a moment, I realise that leadership is about positively impacting others lives on a daily basis, not only on the grand scheme of things. I think it's great that you have a goal of changing the world but that you approach it very differently and rationally, as to not devalue the true meaning of leadership. Leadership should not be this great unattainable objective, you make that clear with this post. I have no doubt in your ability to lead and change this world, one lollipop moment at a time.
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting idea! I look forward to hearing more about your future adventures. I agree that there are different types of leaders and I think you will be a great one.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this post! Great perspective on leadership. Changing the world is an intimidating task, and often as Drew Dudley in the TEDx Video states unrealistic outcomes of leadership can make leaders complacent. Therefore "Lollipop moments" are great ways to make leadership more effective on a day to day basis. They make a more direct impact on people create subtle but continual change to our worldly problems. If we all address leadership in such a way, and have these life changing impacts on others then we can create positive change without being intimidated by the task of changing the world.
ReplyDeleteThis approach really leaves no stone unturned when pursuing ones own hope for the world. It is as true as you can be to achieving an ultimate vision, I believe. Inculcating leadership into your day-to-day life is truly where great leaders thrive. Thank you Aalia, this is very enlightening.
ReplyDeleteI so very much agree. The times we feel bad are when we didn't give 10 minutes to carry out a small gesture, like explain something to someone rather than when we didn't make time to "build a school", because the first one is do-able, and the second you can spend your whole life waiting for the right moment to do it and finding excuses not to.
ReplyDeleteLove this realistic approach you are taking. Change can only happen one person at a time and you outline that perfectly with the "lollipop moments". I like how you explain that even the little things people do can lead to something positive for someone else and then multiply from there on. It is true, one person can make a difference!
ReplyDeleteHey Aalia, this is great stuff and I definitely believe that small attainable goals lead to large accomplishments! Imagine if everyone were focusing on the simple, small things that greatly influence and shape others’ lives rather than the large, seemingly far and hard-to-achieve tasks that seem impossible? Wouldn’t we as a global community grow and accomplish what an individual cannot do alone?
ReplyDeleteI think this post warrants some reference to your previous posts. Fear of judgement and fear of the light (as mentioned in the video) result in the view that leadership is this difficult, unattainable characteristic which makes changing the world seem like something that is beyond our capabilities and therefore something we cannot do or expect.
However, in reality this is not the case, and in fact, more often than not, the little things we do have the ability to greatly impact others’ lives, and in the same way, the little things that others do greatly shape our lives and perceptions (be it holding out a lollipop).
So why do people not do these small, powerful things as often when they have the potential to go such a long way? Unfortunately, more often than not, we are unaware of the impact of these small simple things. I think one reason that you have touched on in your post on pluralism is our lack of understanding and awareness of others’ ways and our lack of communication and dialogue with each other.
Imagine a world where people engaged in dialogue regarding the small things that impacted them, the small things that work when adapting to change. If this happened, people would be more aware of their little actions that positively influence others and would be more likely to do these with less fear of judgement and fear of expectations of them to accomplish the impossible. But for this, it is imperative that we engage in dialogue with others, that we understand each others’ ways, that we recognize our own values and beliefs and the 'clash of ignorance' that this can foster so that we can be motivated to do the small things that make a positive difference and that may ultimately change the world. We will then be able to see ourselves as the leaders that we are.
I wish you all the best on your field-placement and am sure that this will definitely be a life-changing experience that will open you up to be an exceptional leader in all that you do.
Very inspiring!
ReplyDeleteThis is a perspective that I take in my life as well, though I haven't thought of it in terms of leadership. I find my purpose in the thought that if my actions change even one person's life for the better, in whichever way that may be, my life has had a greater purpose. Every day offers a new opportunity to impact another person's life positively, and I try to take that step as often as I can. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteYour outlook on leadership and global change is enlightening. Each and every individual has the capacity to positively affect someone's life. Your post brings to life this true notion of leadership.
ReplyDelete