Leadership: Theory and Practice

This week The Davis Academy's MSLTI cohort gathered for an afternoon of programming with our middle school guidance counselors. MSLTI (Middle School Leadership Training Institute) is a leadership training program that empowers 6th-8th grade students by exposing them to cutting edge ideas about leadership as well as opportunities to put those ideas into practice.

The session with the guidance counselors focused on the different traits that different types of leaders might have. Students were asked to rank a series of traits based on their own impressions and experiences as well as to list any additional traits that they felt were absent. During the course of the discussions students were welcome to reshuffle their ranking to reflect changes in their understanding of leadership.

A series of film clips of leaders in action sparked discussion about different leadership styles as well as different leadership challenges. The students offered many insights. One student reflected on the difference between being a role model and inspiring others. A role model, he observed, makes others want to be like the leader, whereas a leader who inspires challenges others to realize their own unique potential, whatever that may be.

Another observation that was made had to do with the idea that effective leadership can actually be more invisible than visible. A student offered the example of an architect. A architect can lead by presenting a well thought out blue print and assembling an expert team. Her presence might be more essential during the initial phases of a project and less essential as the project unfolds. Knowing when to be hands on and when to let others do the work that they need and are trained to do reflects an understanding of leadership well beyond what many might expect from a typical middle school student. As a rabbi I couldn't help but think of the theological corollary of this example-- that God created the world and now purposefully steps back to allow creation to flourish.

MSLTI is about stimulating deep thinking. It's about exposing students to new ideas. It's about helping them find their voices as leaders and as members of our Davis kehillah. It's about bringing students into meaningful conversation with one another around topics that will help them assume their place as leaders of the next generation of the Jewish community and really in any place that they find themselves.

MSLTI is a great example of how The Davis Academy instills the value of chochmah ("wisdom") in our students. In this case chochmah is about recognizing the duties and possibilities that calling oneself a leader might present as well as understanding that leadership must be earned and not assumed, and that a leader must be reflective and committed to ongoing personal growth and development.