Where Do We Go From Here?

Over the weekend I watched a leadership lecture given by Sen. Jennifer McClellan titled, “Where Do We Go From Here?” In her presentation, McClellan began by defining leadership as the guidance of a group through the present and to plan for the future. She makes it clear that leadership is the goal of moving forward, but to do so, one must know where they are, and where they come from. She gives an example of governor Bob McDonald of how past actions, affect present ideals. When he faced her with the question of how Virginia was doing with race. She responded progressively as there was an African American president at the time, but also addressed voter laws that were still in place not allowing minorities of color to vote. This was an example of how past actions still affect the present, and how learning that, the governor was able to change that in the future. 

 

McClellan went on to carry that example to show how change can happen within leadership by knowing the past, understanding how it still affects the present, and using that knowledge to change the future in a positive direction. Interestingly, she also went over some America history to illustrate how equality was so difficult to obtain by the laws that were first created for the white males. She also blamed bigotry and ignorance for the fact that equality for all not yet being accomplished. 

 

What I found interesting too is that she explained cultural lag when it comes to new people in leadership especialy as more minorities were gaining places in government. An example she presented is the Chorletville riots in the announcement of Obama winning the presidential elections. As she continued to explain more factors that still impact our society when it comes to race, she ended on a high note stating that there is hope in the reach for equality if we have hopeful leaders and help from everyone.