Leaders should come in all shapes and sizes.
With the announcement of our 2021 students leadership cohort, I found the opportunity in my address to our incoming Year 12 to distill what I believe leadership here at St Columba should be. Here are my observations:
Today we congratulate our elected student leaders and thank them for their willingness to serve. But the privilege and responsibility of leadership is not theirs alone.
I have a message for everyone in this room → Real Leadership is about action, not position. Some see leadership as position, popularity and power and some leaders have these things, but these qualities are not the real essence of leadership.
Leadership doesn’t automatically happen when you get elected or pin on a badge.
Leadership, despite what we sometimes think, consists of a lot more than being elected, being nice to people, or pushing other people around.
Real leadership is seeing how things can be improved and working to achieve that change.
It is about being at the service of the team, and not the other way around.
It is about working with others to achieve a shared goal, rather than stoking your own ego.
It is about having the courage to handle unjust criticism.
Real leaders set the bar high for themselves and their team. They take responsibility when something is wrong, and share the praise when they achieve success.
Every one of you in this room has what it takes to be a real leader.
As seniors in our School, those younger than you will look to you to see what leadership is and, to misquote an old song, “Every move you make, every step you take, they will be watching you.”
Please don’t let them, or yourself, down by being anything less than the leader you can be.
“Nemo enim coronabitur nisi qui legitime certaverit.”
For no one is crowned except he who has striven lawfully. St Columba
 | Mr Terry Muldoon School Principal |