John Quincy Adams: A Leadership Analysis

For the last several years, I have tried to answer the question of what makes someone a leader. I once viewed a leader as someone with a position of power, who commands those under them to achieve victory. I have since discovered that this is not what makes a leader a leader.
I found that not every person with power is a leader. I grew enough to notice what I could not before: people’s motives. When John Quincy Adams said “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader,” he does not mention what the leader gets. He only mentions their effect on others. These effects are what are truly important to a leader, and the reason that they lead. True leaders are selfless and do not lead for personal gain. They lead for those who …show more content…
I began to pour more and more of my knowledge onto them, teaching them absolutely everything that I could. As such, I spent and still spend a lot of time with them, have formed friendships, and earned a great deal of influence over them. One day, one of the freshmen I teach got emotional. She was explaining how happy she was to be a part of robotics, how welcome she feels, and how she has not felt this accepted anywhere else. She broke into tears and hugged me. Something clicked in me that day.
I saw, first-hand, the effects of my own leadership. I contributed to this young girl’s love of robotics and likely inspired her to dream, learn, do, and be a little more than she was. However small it may be, I made a positive impact on someone’s life. I showed a little bit of the true leadership that I admire in others. I knew from then on that I needed to continue leading, and I understood why. I lead for those who follow me. I lead for the Kellys, for the Elis, for the Reeds, for the Maggies, and for the Natalies. I lead so that they can be and do everything they can