Nau mai haere mai!

It was my great pleasure to announce the student leaders for 2021 at our assembly on Monday.

Leadership is a privilege and should be bestowed on people who are willing to serve the people they are leading.

At its most basic level leadership is about relationships.

What are the qualities in a person that cause others to trust him or her with the leadership of their group? Framed this way, the question becomes timeless, and as applicable to hunter-gather groups on the east African savannah eons ago, as it is to police, government, nonprofit, or business groups today.

A simple model captures the three key traits people require in order to bestow the mantle of leadership on someone.

First, people look for integrity – confidence that a person will do the right thing, with the best interest of the group in mind, even when that may not be in the leader’s own self interest. As a practical matter, this integrity is embodied in the leader’s behavior. For example, leaders with integrity are comfortable adding people more talented than themselves to a team. And when things go wrong, they take responsibility, rather than throwing subordinates under the proverbial bus, or blaming failure on unforeseeable events. Make no mistake: leadership is an honor that often requires sacrifice.

Second, people look for competence – a leader must have the skill to assess a situation and either directly take, or indirectly organize, the sequence of decisions and actions required to ensure the group’s survival and the achievement of its larger goals. A leader also needs to be able to perform under pressure, to be resilient when adversely surprised, and to have the grit and persistence to overcome obstacles. Finally, a leader has to strike an appropriate balance between the optimism needed to inspire their team, and the overconfidence that leads to failure.

And third, a leader must have empathy for the people who have entrusted him or her with the leadership of their group. Leaders authentically care about their people. You can’t fake this; evolution has endowed people with a very strong ability to tell the difference between leaders who are authentic, and leaders who are putting on an act. For example, leaders with empathy don’t hesitate to liberally share credit for their team’s success. And while they praise in public, they only criticize in private, and only do so when they can provide constructive coaching and advice.

A smarter person than me used to say that there are only three things a person leaves behind when they die: their children, their creations, and the impact of their actions. And when you are on your deathbed, looking back on your life, actions that serve no higher purpose than maximizing your own wealth and pleasure will look painfully small and insignificant. Most people know this, and either explicitly or intuitively want to be part of a collective purpose that is larger than their own pleasure, that gives meaning to their lives and the passage of time. This is the last aspect of leadership: the ability to define a noble purpose for a group, and to give meaning to every individual’s effort.

The students that have received leadership positions have many of these qualities and over the year will be developing their ability to lead others with integrity, empathy and enthusiasm.

Student Leaders for 2021 are:

Head Students

Luke Paton and Lily Blasby

Deputy Head Students

Mitchell McLeod and Naomi Bridger

Cultural Captains

Joshua Walker and Rylee Tisdall

Sports Captains

Jordyne Harris, Naomi Bridger and Abigail Paton

Maori Prefects

Patrick Reid, Rylie Keach, Brianne Harris and Greta McCaw

House Captains

McKenzie House

Josh Walker

Trisha Datt

Mitchell McLeod

School House

Abigail Paton

Mana Hunter

Kari Croucher

Clark House

Naomi Bridger

Patrick Reid

Rylie Keach

Muir House

Sarah Hay

Rafe Johnson

Ashley Robinson