Chris Lowney's Speech on Leadership and Jesuit Education

After attending Chris Lowney’s speech on leadership I have seen a new way to look at leadership, and how it relates to our everyday lives and what we learn about in the classroom. Chris Lowney talked about the leadership role that was based on Jesuit foundations. Over the hundreds of years that the Jesuits have been around the core ambitions have stayed the same. The four principles the Jesuits use to be effective leaders are self-awareness, ingenuity, heroism, and love. Chris talked about three of them, but agrees without all four principles you won’t be the most efficient leader.
Heroism is defined as someone who does something good and noble in a courageous way. Chris said being a hero is not just "saving someone out of a burning building, but being able to handle the opportunities that come along." This put heroism into a better perspective for me. People do heroic things everyday, and most go unnoticed. I think a single mother working everyday to feed her family is a heroic act. To be a good leader you have to be heroic in order to make tough decisions on the spot, and be able to handle any situation that comes along. In the book Whale Rider, Kahu showed many heroic qualities. The fact she was willing to risk her life for someone shows a lot of courage, especially for someone her age.
Another necessary quality a good leader needs to posses is self-awareness. You need to be able to ask yourself "who am I?" and "what’s important in life?" Because if you can’t answer those questions yourself, you can’t lead others. By getting a Jesuit education we are getting a better self-awareness. With core classes we get to see what are strengths and weaknesses are, and are then are able to decide what we need to improve on. Jesuit education "allows us to learn and prepare for life, where others just learn how to do school."
The third and final quality necessary for a good leader that Chris talked about is love. In order to be a productive leader you need to have love. You need to show love in deeds and in actions, not in words. Chris Lowney quoted a famous leader saying, "You must love those you lead in order to lead successfully." I definitely agree with this statement. Anyone will be more willing to work for a common goal if the leader and subordinates have the same passion for the team and the task. Here at Loyola they follow the principle that "When pupils love the master they will love the teachings" When you become more interested and passionate you will try harder. One example we saw was with Kahu. Her love for her family enabled her to be a great leader. She was willing to sacrifice everything to help her grandfather and their tribes’ traditions.
After hearing Chris Lowney’s speech I feel like I have a more thorough understanding of leadership. Leading isn’t easy but everyone can be a leader. We all posses the qualities to be a leader. The Jesuit education we are receiving at our school is helping us discover and develop these qualities. Because of this we will be more prepared for life after college, and are now questioning what kind of life we will lead in the future. It is up to us to decide the answer to that question, and we will be ready to decide this when the time comes.