January Great Story by Abbey Pizel, Southern California Water Fellow
Leadership.
Leadership is inspiring and motivating people. Leadership is wanting others to be the best they can be. In the environmental field, being a leader is very important. Your success as a leader can be measured by your ability in effectively leading people to change their behavior, leading businesses to change their practices, leading leaders to change their actions, and leading governments to change their policies.
“I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people.” — Mahatma Gandhi
Leadership is not something that can be taught. It has to be learned.
In the past month, I have learned something about leadership and it has shaped the type of environmental leader I hope to be. I learned that a career in the water industry or really any environmental field depends largely on an individual’s ability to inspire others to want to change. I also learned that the inspiration does not come through muscle or power. Inspiration comes through compromise and collaboration. Inspiring change comes from a careful understanding.
“A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.” — Martin Luther King Jr.
As a I think about my work in CivicSpark and my career post CivicSpark, I hope to apply the lessons of these two leaders. To be capable of molding consensus not by muscle but through meaningful understanding. I will strive to inspire others through my actions. To inspire others to be the best they can be.