What do you think it takes to be a leader? Do you think leaders are born or can they be developed through experience and teachings?
The Lincoln Leaders Council was developed this year by David Maxwell, the athletic director at LHS. The council consists of small groups of students chosen by their coaches or directors from 37 different LHS activities. These activities consist of athletics, music, fine arts and some other extracurriculars. There will be eight meetings held in the 2025-26 school year. During these meetings they will talk about many different topics, such as how a person wants people to see them and what they are doing to be perceived that way, the qualities it takes to be a good leader and many other concepts.
Maxwell made this council in order to create a safe space where they would allow student voice within the activities department at LHS. It was made as an opportunity for students to provide input on different ideas, or to talk about what they think should be happening at LHS.
“[I wanted to] provide the space for a group for me to be able to go to if I have ideas on something that I’d like to bounce the ideas off of our student body. I don’t ever want it to feel like the activities office is just making decisions without considering the students in all that we’re doing,” said Maxwell.
This is also an opportunity for Maxwell to talk about district level issues, and get feedback from the students about how it affects them, then go back to the district and tell them what the ideas students created.
“I 100% believe that you can develop leaders. And this is an opportunity for us to, you know, help develop leaders in our school and talk about different leadership qualities and traits,” said Maxwell.
Many people have the fundamental idea how someone is just born a leader, but Maxwell thinks that a leader can be developed; that is why he made this council. Being a leader by example can be developed, and Maxwell believes that the four C’s, commitment, confidence, composure and character, are the qualities someone should have in order to be a leader. There are also two more qualities that go into being a vocal leader which are being an encourager and being an enforcer.
“I think as far as traits of being a leader, I think you have to be a great communicator with people. I think you have to be consistent. And when I say consistent, meaning the people in your program or, quite frankly, how you show up every day in your life. They have to know what they’re going to get from you on a daily basis,” said Maxwell.
To Maxwell, being consistent means showing up with the same attitude every day. Someone cannot show up one day and be positive and an encourager, then show up the next day with an attitude and be snarky with their teammates.
This is also an opportunity for Maxwell to get more student interaction, and sit down to talk to students about concerns they have, so he can try and help with those issues.
“Some people may respond to [you being] extremely direct and maybe raising your voice and some of those things, and that’s how you get the best out of people, and others might need you to put your arm around them and tell them and communicate with them in a different way,” said Maxwell.
Someone needs to know how to be a leader when their teammates are doing something wrong or needs help with an issue. Some people may be more sensitive than others, so that person has to know how their teammates will respond to how they will confront them about the issue.
This council was created to help students become leaders and improve leadership skills. It shows the qualities that are important, and hopefully will change the leadership culture of LHS in the future.
“No matter what we did today, that doesn’t matter anymore when we show up tomorrow. Tomorrow we have to continue to improve and continue to get better,” said Maxwell.
