In a presentation that launched Black History Month, speaker Walter Kimbrough counseled aspiring leaders Thursday night to be aware that leadership is often difficult and requires effort and sensitivity.
Kimbrough, the vice president of student services at Albany State University in Georgia, offered students advice from leadership experts and guidance based on his own experiences.
Speaking in the Michigan Room at Norris University Center, he emphasized the importance of having role models and spending time with people of equal or superior talent.
“Students really want to do a lot of good things in their organizations,” he said. “There’s just a need for more mentoring.”
African-American Student Affairs sponsored his speech, titled “Leadership for the New Millennium.”
Kimbrough also cautioned that leadership cannot be taught, and expressed a wariness of leadership programs and classes.
“You can teach about leadership, but you can’t teach leadership,” he said.
He identified several notable young leaders, including the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Jerry Springer, who was the youngest mayor of Cincinnati before creating his famous talk show.
Kimbrough outlined three elements that characterize a good leader. He said leaders are individuals “who have the ability to understand their own times, who express or articulate programs or policies that reflect the perceived interests of particular groups, and who devise instruments that enhance the capacity to achieve effective change.”
He also emphasized the difference between a “positional” leader and a “real” leader. He said a real leader is able to influence his or her subordinates based on earned trust and respect, not just a title. He quoted former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, saying, “If you have to tell people you’re a leader, then you aren’t.”
Tedd Vanadilok, Weinberg ’99 and interim coordinator of Asian and Asian-American student services, agreed. He said leaders do not need to have titles.
“Students feel like they can’t do anything because they’re not on the executive board (of an organization), but that’s not true,” he said.
Kimbrough also discussed ways for leaders to deal with four different generations: the veterans, born between 1922 and 1943; the baby boomers, born between 1943 and 1960; the “gen-Xers,” born between 1960 and 1980; and the “nexters,” born between 1980 and 2000.
He said different generations have inherently different values, and that a leader needs to recognize those differences in order to know how to motivate members of each group. For example, Kimbrough said the veterans want to feel that people value their experience, while the gen-Xers favor an environment with few restrictions that allows them to be creative.
Kimbrough also offered more general recommendations. He said good leaders are authentic: Their private conversations mirror their public ones.
Kimbrough explained the common fallacy of “smiley-face leadership.” He said status as a leader does not bring automatic favor and often invites resistance and pain.
Jane Kim, a Weinberg senior, also heard Kimbrough speak at the Big Ten Greek Leadership Conference last year.
“The theory of smiley-face leadership really hit home,” Kim said. “It’s not all fun and games.”