ELIZABETH J.

DICKHUT
A Leadership Garden
(Leadership Seminar for Social Justice, Fall 2014)
As a child I had no patience for gardening. Pulling weeds was the standard punishment
for a variety of misdeeds. Through the years these memories have stuck with me and have
developed into a succinct metaphor for my personal development. While the beginnings may be
rough, with dedication, hard work, and love it is possible for the end product to flourish.
Specifically, my development as a leader has been rather tumultuous. For simplicitys sake my
journey started with under awareness, developed into over awareness, and is leading in the
direction of aware. From the seeds to the final flower, my leadership garden has been a place of
fruitful growth due to my increased knowledge of Catholic social teaching, the Loras College
dispositions, and my acute proximity to other leaders as role models.
The seeds of leadership began with under awareness, or not knowing my abilities and
my role within my community. While I have always been opinionated, knowing what to do and
how to express those ideas was a challenge. As a child I was a voracious reader; I was introduced
to the classics, like Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and David Copperfield by Charles
Dickens, in 5th grade. My ideas and talents developed naturally but the expression of those gifts
was missing. I was under aware of my leadership abilities. This rapidly changed after support
from my family and peers. Quickly I was thrown into organizations and positions because I was
a natural born leader. That clich, I know now, is a misnomer, but I was unaware at the time.
Being thrown into the fray, without proper guidance, led to being over aware of my position
within my school and community. Quickly I became overinvolved, stressed, and attempted to be
a leader in every aspect of my life. This over style recently changed with my foray into Europe

and studying in Lisbon, Portugal. Slowly I am developing a style of aware leadership by being
more attuned to my surroundings and adaptable to the conditions I face.
Knowing my development as a leader is key in understanding my personal leadership
philosophy. During my under stage, I was under-instructed, under-trained, and underdeveloped. In the following over stage I attempted to be overinvolved in every minute detail of
the project, group, etc. My aware stage, then, is the synthesis of my previous experiences and
adapting those in order to continue growing as a leader. The texts in Leadership Seminar for
Social Justice helped me to analyze my personal assumptions and see where my philosophy
aligns with other leadership styles. In Leadership for a Better World the concept of the change
agent struck a strong chord with me. Musical references aside, Komives and her definition of a
change agent directly related to my personal leadership philosophy. .a person committed to a
dynamic leadership process, lifelong learning, and relationships is the type of leader I strive to
be (Komives 399). What is interesting is how her definition of a change agent is, in essence, very
similar to maxims I use to drive myself forward. It can only get better from here and We just
have to keep moving forward are two phrases I use to remind myself to strive to be a better
person and leader. Within the definition of a change agent, I found the words dynamic,
lifelong, and relationships crucial. These words denote a forward moving path. Instead of
staying stagnant, a leader is constantly developing his or her practices and philosophies. Without
this, I might still be stuck as the over bearing leader. Learning and moving forward, while
simultaneously attempting to create functional relationships defines a critical part of my
leadership assumptions.
Another element of my personal leadership philosophy can be seen in David Matzko
McCarthys book The Heart of Catholic Social Teaching: Its Origins and Contemporary

Significance. In his section titled Love he writes In short, we ought to cooperate as good
neighbors and citizens with an eye both to earthly peace (to the shared goods of common life)
and to our eternal peace in union with our neighbors in the love of God (McCarthy 83). If
sentences could pack a physical punch I would probably have two black eyes. Breaking this
down, the key words that aligned with my leadership assessments would be cooperate,
common life, and union. During my spring semester abroad, I really came to understand and
emphasize the importance in cooperating in order to survive the many trials of being displaced,
which then unifies those working together. My over leadership tendencies didnt work abroad;
it is very hard to be involved in every detail when you dont comprehend the language, cant
understand the culture, and generally feel displaced. Relying on others helped develop a strong
sense of community that was pursing common goals and desiring to succeed, therefore unifying
us with a common purpose. While McCarthy relates this section of leadership to poverty, the
theory can be applied to almost all areas of leadership.
A final facet of my leadership assumptions can be found in Loretta Pyless book
Progressive Community Organizing: A Critical Approach for a Globalizing World. A key
element she develops further is solidarity in relation to identity politics. While my personal
beliefs dont necessarily extend to that realm, her definition of identity politics was still very
powerful: diverse groups of marginalized individuals forging their own place in the public
sphere, authentically expressing the vision of a participatory democracy (Pyles 141).
Broadening this out, this can be applied directly to my leadership philosophy. A small niche of
individuals within a larger group attempting to participate in their society and determine their
direction of growth would be my interpretation of Pyless phrase. While I am not always in the
minority, acknowledging those that differ in opinion is important in attempting to understand the

complete picture. In this way, everyone can participate in a project, a group, or community
without one person or majority dictating and implementing their beliefs and completely
disregarding others. Having been on the minority side, this is a strong personal belief. No one
should feel like they are written off or disregarded. Full participation, and acknowledgement of
differing opinions, should be something a leader pushed a group towards.
In assessing my personal leadership philosophy I also had the time to reflect on leaders in
my own life. While a number of people came to mind, a leader that I have spent much time with
over the past three years has been my tennis coach, Karl Stubben. As a teacher at Western
Dubuque, their boys tennis coach, and the Loras womens tennis coach his leadership style has
developed into a fluid combination of a variety of styles. Specifically, I think his interpersonal
relationships with other professionals and students, while adapting to the needs of each
community, makes him a successful leader. Besides always looking for creative solutions, when
players fall ill or get injured (like myself), he faces the challenge of teaching and coaching in a
secular setting with high school boys and then adjusting to a religious environment with college
women. In this regard, he emphasizes the difference between coaching and leading as two
different styles of leadership. With the Loras women, a coaching role is assumed, meaning
utilizing team captains and emphasizing the aspect of community on the team. With the boys,
however, team captains are ineffective and a lead role is required. This is more of the teacher
that needs to wrangle the restless crowd and keep them focused and on the task at hand. His
leadership is effective and adapts to each scenario. Wrangling the college women would lead
to feelings of mistrust and annoyance while relaxing with the boys would mean inefficiency and
chaos.

Another aspect of Coach Stubbens leadership philosophy is the individual personalities

of the athletes and the culture those traits create. If an excellent player has the wrong attitude,
Coach will not make an active effort to recruit them. Also, after every tennis player has
committed to Loras, Coach Stubben takes the time to talk with that players high school coach to
see if she is a good teammate and has an attitude that will culture a welcoming environment. This
is a direct part of his leadership philosophy. I've always felt that the best thing for a team's
success is to develop a healthy culture within the squad. Teams with great "measurables" won't
measure up to anything if they don't work with and for each other. This may take years, but it's
great to see when it finally comes together (Coach Stubben interview). While this decision may
affect the win or lose success of the team, it is a wise decision to look past the numbers and
assess the person. A negative environment caused by a few individuals impacts the community as
a whole. By sticking to his values and adapting to the situation at hand, Coach Stubben is an
effective leader in the Loras College and Western Dubuque High School communities.
Coach Stubbens leadership philosophies indirectly relate to themes of Catholic social
teaching, specifically the dignity of the human being. As a group within an institution, it is still
our job to uphold the values that Loras College maintains. Through my experience with the
womens tennis team and Coach Stubben, enhancing life and the dignity of the human being is
evident in his interactions with the players. He cares and respects his players while
simultaneously trying to help each person be successful. This closely ties with the call to family,
community, and participation. Due to his leadership, the tennis team at Loras is such a tight knit
community that it might be seen as a family. Also, participation is required, but at a different
level for each person. While I was injured I still supported and helped my teammates. Coach
Stubben, however, looked at the big picture and found it fruitless for me to sit in the cold at

practice when I could be catching up on my schoolwork. Adapting to the needs of each

community member and requiring varying degrees of participation makes Coach Stubben an
effective leader.
In experiencing Coach Stubbens leadership and analyzing it through the lens of Catholic
social teaching, my understanding of my own leadership philosophy has developed. Specifically,
the Loras dispositions have been an influential part of development here at college. Critical
thinking infiltrates my everyday life and I dont even recognize it. This also affects my
leadership abilities. Conflict naturally arises within groups, but by being a critical thinker and
assessing the situation and analyzing the possible outcomes, distress can be avoided.
Specifically, in the phrasing of arguments or dissents, critical thinking has helped me greatly. I
used to have teachers in high school who would say to questions Well the answer should be
obvious or Oh thats just so simple. These casual remarks hurt deeply because I assumed they
were insinuating that I was stupid. With critical thinking these comments can be avoided and the
discussion can be taken to a different level. Well why do you ask that? or How did you get to
that conclusion are two ways to understand the issue without causing problems.
Two of the other Loras dispositions go together like peanut butter and jelly. Ethical
decision making seems to lead naturally into responsible contributing. As a leader, leading by
example can be effective. There are a number of clichs that go along with this, like Actions
speak louder than words. While we are told to avoid clichs when writing, sometimes they are
very accurate. For example, when being an active leader within the Breitbach Thinkers and
Leaders Program, our actions can unfortunately reflect on the entire group. One error, as humans
are prone to, and all of a sudden the entire program comes under question. While I think this has
lessened as the years have passed, it does emphasize the importance of making well thought

decisions and implementing responsible actions. In this way, ethical decision making and
responsible contributing have developed in importance within my personal leadership
philosophy, due to their importance on the Loras College campus.
Coming to the end of my time on the Loras College campus I am confident that my
leadership garden has grown and been fruitful. Though my philosophy has changed dramatically,
from under aware, to over aware, and finally aware, I firmly believe that I have progressed
in a positive direction. The subject matter within our class, as well as our discussions, have just
helped to further my own understanding of myself and my leadership abilities. In this way I am
confident that I can continue to learn and develop these skills so my garden of leadership can
continue to prosper and be fruitful.