Cabrera Gives Students Advice for Successful Leadership

What does it mean to be a good leader?

Though the term leadership is often defined as the process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal, its connotations range from a variety of complex concepts and opinions – each of them valid, but shaped through different lenses.

Put quite simply, though, we are all leaders.

“Every day, we are leading and we are following,” said Dr. Angel Cabrera, speaking at his first Presidential Leadership Dialogues on Oct. 2. “When you decided to follow someone, why do you decide to follow them? Who do you decide to follow?”

Cabrera defined leadership in much more manageable terms, suggesting that each time we are in an unfamiliar place, we look to others who seem to know what they are doing – even in minute situations such as finding a restroom. We subconsciously ask ourselves two questions: Does this person have knowledge? and Does this person have values?

“Every time you follow someone, you are assuming a risk,” Cabrera said.

Using “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” a historical piece written by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1963, Cabrera spoke about the intricacies and the complexities of being a strong leader. While acknowledging that very few people have ever mastered the art of leadership like King, Cabrera challenged students to find that “one thing that really fires [them] up” and make a difference.

To successfully make a difference, Cabrera used King’s example of the “white moderate” to suggest that if we are not part of the solution, we are part of the problem. He acknowledged that a non-action is, by definition, an action and claimed that drawing attention to a problem is not leadership; it is the process by which an individual corrects or fuels a reevaluation of those problems that defines a leader.

Do not look to others, Cabrera urged students, but take it upon yourself to be the change you see in the world.