What It Takes to Be a Leader 101

What I appreciated most from her speech was her description of our President-elect Sullivan. As Sullivan is new to the University community, we all are not familiar with her as a person let alone her leadership style. By describing positive leader traits--such as, a good sense of humor, attentive listener, gracefully agressive, among many others--and attributing them to Sullivan provides us with a real manifestation of the great leader we are striving to be. It's likely that we all do not wish to lead exactly as Sullivan does (or how we were described she does), as leadership styles are personal. However, many leadership qualities are universal, and she acts as a role model for those traits, if no others. Among everything else, we leaders have a better idea of who our incoming President is as a person, which is valuable in itself. To be a great leader, one must know what it takes. She told us. And to increase our understanding, she brought the characteristics to life through describing the applicable ones that Sullivan possesses.