Life of an INTJ
Eric Kao
Washington University in St. Louis
B.S. in Business Administration '12
Primary Major: Accounting
Second Major: Marketing
Minor: Applied Microeconomics
Resume (Updated 03/23/12)
Contact: ekao91(at)gmail(dot)com
Mission: To share my thoughts and finds with the world
My Taiwanese name is 高新明. Sometimes I'd like to think it means I'm bringing about a better tomorrow.
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Boba in California is better. (Taken with instagram)
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I cackled. A lot.
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WOW FANTASTIC BABY.
Sorry for jumping on the #Linsanity and adding yet another post into the discussion, but I hope you find it worth the read.
(Quick note, I use the masculine “he”/”him” in this post, for the sake of concision, rather than sexism)
What is leadership?
Leadership is Influence. (A takeaway lesson from TAF 2011)
A good leader is not always the one with a big voice in the front of the room. A good leader is not always the one bossing people around. A good leader is not always the one with the longest track record in an organization.
What is a leader?
A leader is someone who can create change - Someone who sees the status quo as imperfect, and takes action to move it in a better direction. So, a leader has to start with this vision, but can never realize it single-handedly. He has to be able to convince people to believe in his vision, because without followers, he has no influence, and thus is not a leader. He has to empower his followers (team, organization, etc.) to let them reach their potential, because in the end, that makes the entire group more influential. (Note that the “first follower(s)” of this leader are also leaders because they took a chance and believed in the vision of someone else, and are willing to help their cause, but this is for a different time)
So now there’s this Jeremy Lin hype. Last night he scored 10 points. Does that make him less of a leader? Nope. He had 13 assists, meaning he helped others get their points, for the greater cause - the Knicks. The thing is, I don’t think other point guards get as much credit as they deserve. Over the past few years, I’ve seen Rajon Rando (Boston Celtics) make some incredible assists that didn’t make the highlight reel. I don’t know basketball that well, but isn’t that what point guards are supposed to do? What this means is that our world has been too obsessed with the big stars. Don’t get me wrong, big stars can be leaders, but when they start being all about themselves, then they become bad leaders.
What I’m hoping is that with the Jeremy Lin hype comes an appreciation for the servant leaders in the world.
