A new friend recently asked me what I think my job is. Leadership being so hard to define, I often reply that I go to meetings and I sign stuff. That indeed is how I spend much of my time. There are also the events, of course — receptions, athletic competitions, dinners and luncheons — and at each of those events, I know my attendance is representative not only of me personally but also of the university as a whole.
These symbolic functions, whether formal or informal, are where a lot of people will see me and assess my behavior. Somehow, merely being present can be a stamp of approval on an event or initiative, and even after all these years, I have not gotten used to people clapping for me just because I am there. Still, I try to make the most of my time at events.
We often look for the charismatic leader, someone who projects both strength and caring, someone who gets big things done in a timely way and leads change, but also someone who stops to pay attention to individuals and their opinions and contributions. Indeed, one of my favorite authors on leadership (Max DePree) writes that the first responsibility of a leader is to define reality and the last is to say thank you. Defining reality is marshalling the community to come to consensus on its aspirations and set the stage for moving ahead. Saying thank you recognizes the efforts that each member of the community has made toward that success. What happens in between, however, is the hard part of the work.
The University of Hawai‘i will soon have a new leader, and as I write this, the word is spreading about who the finalists are. Each has their own journey, and each clearly cares about students and communities. No doubt each will be judged not only by their experience, but also by the way they move about our communities in the public fora in the coming weeks. I’m curious to see how each will define the reality that is UH and how their vision might take us forward. Within that vision of reality, how will they see UH Hilo and our island? How will they help me help the UH Hilo campus realize its full potential and fulfill its kuleana to our island and our state? The job is huge and the priorities are many. As change unfolds, certainly some will feel left out and others will feel like their moment has finally arrived.
The two candidates we will meet have held several leadership roles and have had years to fill their toolkit and hone their style. On another level, we strive at UH Hilo to educate our students to be good citizens and to be leaders. That does not necessarily mean that each will be a CEO or a principal or a senator. What it does mean is that each should have the tools to follow their chosen path successfully and to always lead by example in their life and work. One of our students or alumni may one day be the UH Hilo chancellor or the UH system president. Who knows? One may even be president of the United States, another leadership position we are all paying attention to these days.
So how do we prepare young people to be leaders? Well, those charismatic pieces are not totally irrelevant. Our graduates have to communicate both in writing and orally in ways that are both clear and compelling. They have to work well with others and in diverse environments. These so-called “soft” skills are not all that soft and not always easy to acquire. Most people do not like public speaking, but the only way to get good at it is to do it. A lot. Students do not read as much as they used to, but the more one reads, the better one writes. Students hate group work, but we make them do it anyway, and we watch how they act in that context. Do they treat others with respect? Can they listen as well as they speak? The human being that shows up is just as important as the leader.
Bonnie D. Irwin is chancellor of the University of Hawaii at Hilo. Her column appears monthly in the Tribune-Herald.