A new year promises new beginnings and these things I wish for family and friends, both near and far away:
- health to enjoy your days in comfort
- love of family and friends
- beauty of nature and its changing wonders
- wisdom to choose those priorities that are meaningful to us
- happiness and fulfillment of life
- peace, joy and blessings for the new year ahead
As I contemplated this week’s blog entry, I turned to the photos in my book for inspiration and quickly knew I would discuss the qualities good leaders should have. Online research provided a wealth of important traits most leaders demonstrate. Andrew Deen, wrote a guest piece on the Center for Creative Leadership blog in which he mentions the following traits of a good leader:
- honesty
- ability to delegate
- sense of humor
- confidence
- commitment
- positive attitude
- creativity
- ability to inspire
- intuition
Think of someone you consider a good leader and reflect about the characteristics they portray. During my teaching career, I have been fortunate to meet leaders both in and outside the field of education. Leaders, I am convinced, come from all walks of life. Are they born that way or were they taught to lead? Our parents were our first teachers, and many traits we learned from them were not necessarily spoken to us. Often they led by example. Actions speak louder than words as the saying goes.
Being a role model and having the ability to inspire others I have found to be important qualities in a leader. As I led a local chapter of AATG, I discovered that it can be lonely at the top. Others are quite content to allow a leader to do all the work. That’s where it is important to delegate tasks for others to do. My strengths lie in creativity, honesty, a positive attitude and being able to think outside the box. Hard work has never frightened me away from completing tasks. My commitment to my students is implicit.
The one person who comes to mind as expressing the above traits would have to be a former Superintendent in my school district, Dr. Jerome F. Melvin. He has the ability to listen, and I have yet to hear him utter an unkind word about anyone. His commitment to his staff, students and parents was nonpareil. Dr. Melvin inspired us to go above and beyond and to achieve greatness even if we sometimes had self doubts. Everything he said and did was tempered with a sense of humor. He exuded a positive attitude as he led us seemingly untouched by outside influences.
So, as we commence the new year 2015, consider those people in our lives whom we view as leaders and ask yourself how many of these characteristics they express. How are you leaders in your daily lives?
Dr. Mary Ann Niemczura 
I agree , actions speak the loudest above any words, when it comes to parents and children. Actions and attitudes is how we are taught to deal with living. Maybe it doesn’t look like it in the beginning but as we grow we bring it all to the front burner.
My Mother and Father loved music. Early in life , my brother and I called upon music to express ourselves at a very young age. Music takes you to many paths and leadership is one of them . In fact, leadership is a piece of cake when you are used to performing music at a young age !
I enjoy your Blog !! I will learn from your writing….. I love your book !
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What a wonderful way to start the New Year 2015 with such a lovely post. That inherent message about actions speaking louder than words would have to be “don’t pay attention to what I say but what I do.” Trust is oftentimes lost when we put it in those people who say one thing but do something completely different. We have to remain keen observers and vigilant in life and place our trust in those whose actions mirror their words.
Music like foreign language learning needs to start at a very early age. You may notice some pregnant mothers reading aloud and playing music to their unborn children. I think it’s great that you began music at an early age. Brain research shows that we remain mentally alert longer in life if we continue to play a musical instrument, learn a new foreign language or speak more than one language. I’m so glad you enjoyed my book as well as my blog. I enjoy having conversations with others via my blogs. So keep on reading and commenting, please. Happy New Year to you and yours.
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