By Charles Zimmel | City of Scofield, Sawyer County

Nearly everyone at some point in their lives was taught what it means to be a leader.

In kindergarten, individuals get their first glimpse of what a leader is by acting as the line leader.

Dr. Gary Williams, in his special discussion “Leading Leaders,” used a line of children as an extended metaphor to demonstrate where leaders fall on a spectrum. He did this by demonstrating the front, middle, and back of the line as different levels of leadership and participation in a particular club.

The kids in the front do all the work, followed by a group of unaware middle kids and the caboose, or back, are the kids that participate to check off an accomplishment on their college application.

Following his line metaphor, he presented an ambiguous image that some saw as a duck while others saw a rabbit. He used this to exemplify how everyone has their own perspective of a leader.

However, he discussed how leadership is about influence and what people can bring to the table for others. In leading others, he shared that instead of telling people what you have done, tell them what you will do.

“Write the story of the script that you want to play and the character you want to be,” Williams said.

Every leader has a “critical importance” in regards to how they connect with people. He emphasized that building trust and credibility with those around you will help in gaining support and ultimately help in connecting with a greater percentage of any population.

The most important takeaway from Dr. William’s discussion is the fact that a leader cannot lead others if they are not willing to work with them.

He mentioned how he is a leader that is able to “inspire” those around him and used two counselors as examples of leaders that a person would reach out to if they wanted to “get stuff done.”

The session concluded with heartwarming and sincere moments of session participants sharing how they would challenge themselves this week.