“Eyes sparkling”... Literally speaking, Benjamin Zander is talking about when someone is so interested in a topic that their eyebrows raise, their eyes become more focused, and they might even smile a little bit. But it means so much more than that. Whenever I imagine someone’s eyes sparkling, I picture my two-year-old brother asking me to go to the park nearby my home in Lincoln. He can’t quite speak in coherent sentences, and yet I can understand and almost feel the excitement in his body. Not only are his eyes lit up, but his mind is racing, thinking about all the good times he’s had on the swings and in the sand and all the good times to come. Although I am only eighteen years old, I’ve found that there is a direct correlation between the eyes and what a person loves. You can tell when someone doesn’t care about a subject because his or her eyes seem to droop and become lazy or unfocused. For example, I’ll use my little brother again. He hates to wear his hat outside the house because it is uncomfortable for him. Anytime I mention it, he says no and won’t make direct eye contact with me. His eyes are the window into his likes and dislikes. I use my two-year-old brother as an example because kids that are young have a harder time hiding their true emotions. When it comes to teenagers and adults, I think the situation changes a little bit.
I’ve noticed as I moved into UNO this week how kind everyone was towards me. I would say that everyone I met had their eyes “sparkling” with kindness. But one thing I know about teenagers and adults is that this isn’t always the case. Most of the time, there is pain and suffering behind those “sparkling eyes.” I think Zander might be trying to say that a great leader is someone who can make you forget about all the pain and sadness you’ve been through- so much so that you can’t hide the happiness and inspiration shining through your eyes. To tie this back to the original question at hand, I must bring up a few quotes that have inspired me from the video. Zander said, “Success is how many shining eyes you have around you.” Later he says, “Who am I being that my children’s eyes are not shining.” Benjamin Zander is saying that you are not being a good leader until everyone around you has forgotten about their past and is inspired for the future. I completely agree with Zander when he says that people around you must be inspired by you and your words in order to be a great leader, but I feel that there is also a little more. I would say that a leader is someone who sets an example and makes sure that no one gets left behind. Most importantly, a leader is someone who has his or her goals laid out clearly and has a plan to reach them. The biggest inspiration for my definition of a leader would have to be my parents. Even in times of hardship, they see the end goal and they will stop at nothing to make sure every kid reaches that goal as well. Plus, it can’t be easy when you have eight kids. To answer the third and final question, I would say that there is definitely a difference between a leader and a responsible leader. A leader can be anyone who leads or is in charge of something. For example, Donald Trump is in charge of the United States. Some might say he has done good things, therefore he is a good leader. Others think he is the worst thing to happen to them this century. It is clear, though, that he is a leader. I don’t think anyone has a tough time identifying leadership, but when it comes to identifying a responsible leader, it is more difficult. Everyone has their own definition of leadership and it can sometimes be difficult to agree on who is a responsible, good leader and who is not. I feel that it is best to use examples when defining. One definition of responsible leadership from the Financial Times says, “making decisions that, next to the interests of shareholders, also takes into account all the other stakeholders, such as workers, clients, suppliers, the environment, the community and future generations.” Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos are all prime examples of responsible leaders using this definition. One thing they have in common is that they responsible with themselves and they lead authentically. All three of them have amazing stories of how they came to be, but most importantly, they are passionate about what they do. To tie this back to what Zander was saying, they are not faking anything or hiding. Their eyes are truly sparkling. Another definition from an article titled What Is Leadership? By Susan Ward says, “Leadership is the art of motivating a group of people to act toward achieving a common goal.” Examples using this definition are Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, and other religious figures. These were people who truly motivated and lived their lives for the sake of motivating a group. One thing in common with all of them is that they did not question their core beliefs. They were not focused on the past and they did not hide their emotions. As Zander would say, their eyes were “sparkling” with passion, responsibility, and leadership. To conclude, I would make the claim that there is not a perfect definition of ‘responsible leadership,’ rather there are perfect examples of responsible leaders. Zander implied that a good and responsible leader is someone who can make others forget about their difficult past and focus on the future. I would agree with him and, because of this, I believe that anyone can be a good leader.
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