What makes a good leader?
Don’t ask me this question! As someone who was the leader of a school, and mentored by the previous leader of the same school who I worked under for 16 or so years before that, I can give you 101 things that do NOT make a good leader and they would all be based on her. I feel the sarcasm bubbling as I think about this question. I could take it in so many different ways based on my experience with her. In fact, many of the topics I have talked about with my therapist lately focus on what I went through and how to heal from it.
But at the same time, I can’t ignore the fact that the leader I am working for now is everything that my old boss should have been. To say the least, it is refreshing working for my supervisor. If something happens at work that starts to remind me of something from my old job and I feel the anxiety rising, I have to remind myself that this is different. My work environment is different. I am not in the same place, both literally and figuratively.
I think the main difference between these two leaders I have worked for, past and present, is their age. My old boss is much older and can fit into that “old school” category of bosses. She has devoted her entire life to being a leader. It is her true purpose. My current supervisor is a lot younger, both younger than her and me. She has no formal leadership training. She was a teacher and has a master’s degree and has only been in the leadership position she’s in now for about two years. But she is great at it, to say the least. Both of their leadership styles are effective, but only one of them has made it so that I can be at home on this 3-day weekend and enjoy it without anxiety over a situation that didn’t get resolved before I left on Friday. Anxiety would have been extreme had it been the same situation under my old boss. And it wouldn’t have let up until I got back to work Monday morning.
I think this quote that I saw online recently sums it up best:
And that’s all I have to say about that.
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