As a Public Affairs major, we spend a lot of time focusing on the three E's. And when I say a lot of time, I mean pretty much every class that I have taken for my major. The three E's are effectiveness, equity, and efficiency, and they represent three criteria to look at when examining and reevaluating public policy. I think each one of these terms and the power that is associated with them can correlate to each of the following three statements:

1. LEADERSHIP is everyone's business. A lesson in effectiveness.
This really ties into one of my overall views of leadership. I don't see leadership as a "get as far up the ladder as you can" kind of deal, but instead, something that allows a positive change for the greater good to take place. I have always been a big believe in the fact that anybody can be a leader, and it comes down to your character and the moments where your character is under pressure that define you as who that leader is, and serves as a true test of your effectiveness.This is illustrated by my favorite animated character of all time (Dug the Dog) in the Disney/Pixar movie UP. He is doubted by pretty much everybody in the movie but makes a personal choice to step up and save the day when the going got tough, proving to have effective leadership and strong character when completely under pressure.

2. Leadership is EVERYONE'S business. A lesson in equity.
Everybody is impacted by leadership in some way. We recently talked about the sphere of leadership and I think it is really important to realize who can be impacted by you, both in positive and negative ways.We each have goals of our life and these goals are always impact others in a direct way that we can easily acknowledge but I do not think enough thought is given to how the way we try to reach our goals can influence others on the paths to achieving theirs. Leadership being EVERYONE'S business is about realizing that we are all leading our own lives and our own goals and that in order to really make a positive change, we need to do what is best at the end of the day for humanity. This is illustrated by Frodo at the end of the Lord of the Rings trilogy when he finally throws the ring into Mordor, as he made one action to benefit everybody.

3. Leadership is everyone's BUSINESS. A lesson in efficiency.
Leadership is a large functioning system and can be looked at in terms of a business. In order to get the greatest benefits from it, it is really not about positional leadership. It is about having the right people in the right place who feel passionately driven to make a difference in whatever role they are playing. When you have the right people in the right places, work will be achieved in the most sensible way possible. This is also reflective of the Social Change Model and making sure that your values align with those of your community and who you are directly working with. This is illustrated by the Jamaican bobsled team in the movie Cool Runnings, as each member of the team has a position in the bobsled for an extremely intentional reason.

So what does this have to do with power? It has EVERYTHING to do with power. I recently watched the documentary film Miss Representation, and while I usually feel really empowered by learning about social issues, I almost felt helpless. Throughout the documentary, there were a lot of people in power, CEO's and broadcasters, who were quoted saying really sexist, discriminating, racist things. The entire time I was just thinking of how these people got into their positions of power and why there are such amazing, hard working, inspiring people out there who are not in a position where the world can hear them. So I sat and I thought. and thought. and thought. And then I realized...

Instead of one word being highlighted, the true statement should be:

LEADERSHIP is EVERYONE'S BUSINESS.

Because without believing in all three parts of the equation, your leadership will not be as impactful as you are capable of making it. Leadership is truly a matter of what you believe in as the powers by which you are capable of having. In looking at the Sphere of Influences that we wrote out for ourselves, they are a direct role of our actions, and while there are some really bad people who are in a position of power and influence, that does not mean that they are powerful and influential people. It means that people hear them. But if people are not inspired by them, those words are nothing. So as a leader in society, it is our personal duty to seek out places of power within society and act with out hearts to make effective, equitable, and efficient decisions to truly inspire people so our words don't fade like those of the CEO's and and broadcaster's mentioned about.

Let the positions of power you have mean something. Create bold, transformative statements so that you aren't the cause of a new generation wishing they could be heard.