SST - What is a leader?

What is a leader? The dictionary defines leadership as: “The action of leading a group of people or an organisation. The state or position of being a leader. The leaders of an organisation, country, etc.” So by definition, a leader is someone who stands at the head of a country; a prime minister, a president- personal qualities include: an ability to make difficult decisions, speak confidently in public, focus on the task at hand. This is leadership in the most robotic, successful and efficient sense. However that definition leaves out the humane aspects of leadership. The aspects that gain a leader respect and encourage others to follow. Traits such as open-mindedness, honesty, integrity and drive. Someone who is competent in both these aspects of leadership will excel as a leader. 

A person I believe displayed these qualities is Dame Whina Cooper; her determination in gaining equal rights for the Maori community and leading her people to fight for what they believe. Born in northern Hokianga in 1895, Whina Cooper quickly began to play an active role in the community, helping to set up Maori land development schemes- eleven in total, comprising forty thousand to ninety eight thousand acres. Following the death of her second husband, Bill Cooper, in 1949, Whina Cooper moved to Auckland where she became a pan-tribal Maori leader. She also founded the Women's Welfare League, an organisation that by the mid-1950’s had over three hundred branches and four thousand members. However, Dame Whina Cooper is most well known for leading the 1975 land march from Te Hapua, the far north, to the parliament in Wellington. At the age of eighty, Whina Cooper walked over one hundred kilometres, to champion for the rights of her people. At the end of her journey, Whina Cooper presented the prime minister with a petition signed by over six thousand people- an incredible achievement from an eighty year old woman that shows that you are never too old to make a change. Dame Whina Cooper passed away in 1994 at the age of ninety eight. In my opinion Whina Cooper is an incredible example of a leader for the reasons stated above.