Information for 
Student Feature
Empowering Effective Leaders
By Jordan Crisco, an MAOL graduate student
When we think of leaders, we often picture people who command a room. Some draw us in with charisma or presence; others bring energy that lifts everyone in the room. Many are articulate and have an easy way with words. They know when to pause and when to be intentional about their phrasing. These qualities make leadership easy to recognize. But what about the people whose influence is quieter?
Leadership culture often equates leadership with the task of talking. Leading requires communicating. To lead, one must instruct and guide. However, if we think back to those who have most influenced our lives, I would guess that talking isn’t what makes those influential people so important for us. Instead, their influence was due to how they saw us, connected us with other colleagues, offered a word of wisdom outside a group gathering or platformed us for success rather than themselves. I think of these kinds of leaders as the “wedding planners” of projects or organizations. A wedding planner works diligently in the background handling things the bride and groom might never know about. Instead of taking the stage and putting the spotlight on themselves, this type of leader works to platform others for success. I’m drawn to leaders like these.
In my current role at Harding, I work as one of two full-time, audio-visual technicians. The overwhelming majority of my job is in the background, from working chapel to keeping classrooms running during lectureship to performing maintenance no one will see to prevent potential visible problems from ever occurring. Leadership through this position is very quiet, but not silent. While I am not the one speaking on stage, teaching in a classroom, or holding board meetings, I am part of the team communicating quietly in the background to help those very public leaders perform their jobs. Such leadership involves anticipating needs, exercising judgment, coordinating people and schedules, and taking responsibility when things don’t go as planned.
It’s important to remember that an absence of visibility is not an absence of influence. It might be helpful to shift our thinking from, “Who is the leader?” to “Where is leadership happening and how do we know it’s successful?” Quiet leadership reminds us that effective leaders also know how to follow. They recognize when to take initiative and when to support someone else’s direction, keeping the shared purpose in view. Their influence grows through everyday actions: noticing a need or following through on a commitment. They
demonstrate the care and responsibility they hope to inspire in others. They don’t need a stage or an audience to lead.
Ultimately, leadership is more about others than it is about a single leader. The true nature of leadership is to give those we lead more than we take, guiding those around us to a better outcome. Rather than taking the spotlight or dominating the room, perhaps a better approach is to step into the wedding planner role. Such leaders make things happen behind the scenes, listen well and lead quietly. They also prove that an absence of visibility is not an absence of influence.
