By Rebecca String
Elm Staff Writer
Business professor Dr. Michael Harvey and senior Andrew Antonio will host a leadership workshop as a part of the National Collegiate Leadership Conference (NCLC) at the University of Arizona in Tuscon during the spring semester. The NCLC is a student-led organization dedicated to teaching young students how to be better leaders in all aspects of life.
Interested in the idea of leadership, Dr. Harvey issued a proposal to join the conference and was accepted along with Antonio. The program will last one hour. With the proposal accepted, Antonio and Dr. Harvey now must determine the structure and layout of the program.
“We’ve just begun to discuss what the actual 60-minute program will look like. The hardest part is already done; Professor Harvey has spent years developing his seven-question leadership framework. Now our task is to take his work and put it into an engaging, multi-media presentation,” said Antonio.
Within the allotted hour, Dr. Harvey and Antonio will use video clips, music, Power Point, activities, and discussion to teach the students about Dr. Harvey’s model.
“Our goal for the conference is to introduce Professor Harvey’s new and intriguing take on leadership to some of the country’s finest student leaders. His model challenges the contemporary assumption that leaders have all the answers, and, on the contrary, suggests that the most successful leaders ask the right questions,” Antonio said.
Dr. Harvey does not believe that leadership is necessarily about having authority and the right answers. In contrast Harvey said, “Great leaders help find answers and ask questions. We need to make young leaders realize that you don’t need to have all of the answers, but the courage to ask the right questions.”
The program will be based off of Dr. Harvey’s seven question model in which he asks leaders the following questions: who are we, where are we, how are we doing, where are we going, how will we get there, why should we care, and do we understand. These questions can apply not only to businesses and the country, but also to sports, student clubs, and many other organizations.
Dr. Harvey said that organizations “must ask who are we because different groups have different goals,” and they need to manage their efforts appropriately.
The workshop will not only affect the student leaders coming to hear Antonio and Dr. Harvey speak, but also the community that these leaders will return to.
“Young leaders go back and ask, ‘how do we deal with the differences [in our communities]?’ ‘Who are we as a community?’ It’s as much about imagination as it is fact.”
Antonio hopes that he will not only be able to teach others, but that he can learn through the process as well.
“On a personal note, I’m sure the whole process will be an intellectual journey for me,” he said. “Leadership is a discipline that constantly evolves over time. I imagine one can study the subject his/her whole life and still have trouble identifying an enduring set of characteristics or skills that define a great leader. Having the opportunity to explore the topic in depth and work under Professor Harvey is a tremendous opportunity for me.”