Do you want to be a leader or a follower? This is a question we hear many times in our life. We hear it when we are in school, work, or anywhere. Some will answer that they are a leader and others will answer that they would rather be a follower.

Throughout our lives we are faced with situations were we can lead people and other times we just follow what people say. What is a leader? According to dictionary.com, a leader is a person or a thing that can lead.  But what is a leader in peoples eyes?

“Someone who is comfortable in their own skin and kind of radiates off that they are trying to get others to cooperate. So the people they are working with feel comfortable to voice their own opinions and so they want to do and share their ideas.”  said Junior, Olivia Fleet.

We have another side of the coin that shows sometimes a leader isn’t a good one.

“Someone that has influence either positively or negatively. You would hope it is positively when someone can influence other students or the population.”  Assistant Principal, Beth Bartlett said.

Not everyone has the same definition of a leader. Typically leaders are able to work and get along with people. They can influence people in a good or a bad way.
Each leader has different qualities from one to another. Not all leaders are the same since they are all their own being.
“I think that by being a leader you can learn more about yourself and help guide others to leading a positive life.  Qualities of a leader would be someone who seeks to help other people rather than just themselves; people who more selfless than selfish. A leader who looks at everything in a positive way because you can’t be a leader unless you look on bright side of things. A leader makes up their own mind rather than following the crowd.” Senior, Racheal Griffith said

Leaders all have different kinds of qualities that make them who they are; They all have different qualities that make them different kinds of leaders.

“Qualities of a leader is someone has a opinion and isn’t too proud of themselves to voice it to everyone. They know they have a limit and know they need help from others. They know their strong points and weakness and make up for their weakness with other people.” Fleet said.

Leaders should know themselves the best since they should work on their weakness and push themselves to the limit.
However, in this world some of us aren’t born a leader. Not all of us can be a leader at some point. There will always be followers in life due to the fact that some think that being a leader holds great responsibility and it’s to great of a burden. They think why not be a follower to lessen the burden and have less responsibility.
Yet most of us believe that everyone is a leader and not a follower. There are people who would disagree with this. They do not agree that everyone is a leader. 75% of Fraser high school students think that everyone is a leader. That is 3 quarters of the school who believe everyone is a leader in some way.

“Inside of everyone is a leader. There is always a small group you are influencing or a big group like president of the United States.  I think everyone has an opportunity and they just need just recognize it. I believe that everyone has a spiritual influence.” Bartlett said.

Everyone is a leader in their group, whether the group is a small group or a large group big as big as the whole school. There are some leaders that take control of everything. Not everyone has that influence towards people. But not just the talented or the popular kids have influence towards people. Everyone can be a leader no matter who the person is. Everyone has that spark or light to be a leader.

Occasionally there are times when people fail as being a leader. They will mess up or there will be problems that will occur such as disagreement, not being able cooperate with others, or different points of view.

“There are always times where no matter what you do, you reflect that you could have done something better. Whether you fail or mistakes, maybe next time you can do it differently such more effective.” Bartlett said.

Leaders make mistakes and even sometimes followers make mistakes.  We are not perfect human-beings.

“There times where you have made mistakes and messing up is part of being a leader. So is accepting that and learning what you could have done to make the situation better and working on it and moving forward.”  Fleet said.

The mistakes that people make are okay. There are times that people learn from their mistakes instead of ignoring the facts why they made them. Everyone have a misstep and nobody is perfect. Even great leaders make blunders in their life and they learn from their mistakes.
When a person thinks of a leader or even a follower, it could be anyone in the world. Whether it is a small person or strong person they can be either a leader or follower. It doesn’t have to be specified person. Everyone can be a leader or follower.

Here is the question again. Are you a leader or a follower?