The Arts & Letters Fall 2010 Expressions newsletter is now online! This edition features the “Arts and Leaders” of the college and university with articles about Student Governor Brandt Shields, Dickerson Park Zoo Public Relations and Marketing Director Melinda Arnold, COAL Associate Dean Roger Stoner, and Public Affairs Provost Gloria Galanes as well as a Q&A with University President James Cofer.

College of Arts and Letters Dean Carey Adams describes his opinion on the arts and leadership in his article in the Fall 2010 Expressions newsletter, From the Dean:

Recently a student was telling me that while she appreciated what she had learned in her public speaking class, she really disliked public speaking and was glad she did not have to do it anymore. I told her what I’ve been telling my public speaking students for 25 years: If you are good at what you do – whatever that is – at some point you will i nd yourself speaking to an audience about it. Hopefully when that chance comes you will remember enough of what you learned in class to take advantage of the opportunity. The same could be said of leadership. We look to people who are good at what they do to help us be good at what we want to do. Top salespeople become managers. Great athletes become coaches. Effective soldiers become officers. Good students become teachers. Of course, it does not always follow that top performers make great leaders. The “Peter Principle” holds that people eventually are promoted to their level of incompetence. (Scott Adams’ “Dilbert Principle” takes this one step further, asserting that companies promote their least competent employees to the level where they can do the least damage–management!)

Much of education is directed at teaching students what they need to know to perform well in various professions without necessarily much attention paid to what it will take to be effective leaders in those professions. Missouri State University’s commitment to ethical leadership as a pillar of our public affairs mission reflects our desire to equip students with those broader sets of skills, abilities, and experiences that will prepare them to develop as leaders.

What does it mean to “lead”? Often we equate leading with being in charge. TIME’s list of most influential people in 2010, for example, features a list of “leaders” – prime ministers, presidents, CEO’s, executives, and generals – and puts influential artists, thinkers, and heroes in their own categories. However, if we think of influence as a key characteristic of leading, there are many more leaders in the world than there are bosses, presidents, and executives.

At the same time, to influence is not necessarily to lead. When NBA star Charles Barkley famously proclaimed, “I am not a role model,” he was both disavowing his intention to influence others while at the same time acknowledging that he, in fact, did just that. More recently, teen singer/actress Miley Cyrus made the same assertion.

My own definition of leadership includes a deliberate intention to alter the course of daily events. That may include giving explicit directions or exerting some authority, but it can also mean being the person who is willing to go first in order to show the way. It can involve being elected or appointed to a formal position, but more often it means simply being aware of the influence that one can have and using that influence to some effect.

This issue of Expressions is full of stories about individuals who are altering the course of daily events within their spheres of influence. Their paths to leadership have varied widely, but having worked with each of them I know they share some things in common with most good leaders.

• They know that to influence the future one has to have a broad understanding of the past and the present. So they have read widely, traveled broadly, and engaged people who are different from themselves, not being able to predict when or how that knowledge and experience will be of specific use.
• They know one cannot lead without being understood, and that being understood requires seeking to understand others. So they are eager listeners, and they appreciate that others express themselves in ways that are not always obvious or uniform.
• They appreciate that there is as much mystery and beauty in human behavior as there is logic and utility. So they see the arts and humanities as having as much to say about leadership as do the behavioral sciences. If we are good at what we do we will have opportunities to lead. To lead ethically and well we need to be good at who we are, too.