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| Victoria Allen Class of 2016 |
The Leader
Head like a big
Watermelon,
Frequently thumped
And still not ripe
This short poem by the perennial McConnell Center favorite, Wendell Berry, resonates to me on what it feels like to be a leader. Perhaps Mr. Berry wrote it as someone who observes leaders, but as someone with a small measure of leadership, I feel that it is more applicable for the leader to consider. After all, there is a reason that the caricature of a big headed, overconfident leader exists, and I cannot think of any comparison that is more apt than the watermelon.
The idea that a leader can achieve a certain standard of “ripeness,” measured by frequent “thumps,” is what is fundamentally wrong with the standard of leadership. From my own personal experiences, I have to admit that there has always been the thought in my head that I would eventually figure things out and get the right answer; that one day (hopefully soon) I would achieve the perfect level of ripeness.
However, the “thumps” that I have encountered have only proven that I am not a seasoned leader at all. Perhaps when considering thumps, they should be considered as challenges and tests to leadership. In the same way the farmer thumps a watermelon in the field, different issues arise to thump the leader and see if they are ready.
In reading Mr. Berry I have had to reflect on my own thumps, and how they have shaped me as a leader. I believe that perhaps the thumps aren’t a measure of my ripeness, rather a test of my resiliency. Instead of measuring the quality of the watermelon through ripeness, perhaps we should be examining it for weak spots and rot. As long as I can continue to be “thumped,” I can continue to be a leader. It is when I bend under pressure or become rotten with poor judgment that I can no longer be a leader.
Victoria Allen, of Auburn, Ky., is a senior McConnell Scholar at the University of Louisville. She is a political science and history major.