Me, myself and I

Not an astronaut, not a policeman, nor a firefighter, whenever I was asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, I always answered the same. My desire was to become the mayor of my city. Befitting the innocence of a child, I wondered why the government did not print all the money it took to end the people’s shortcomings. Although my dad always told me that it would cause inflation, I kept insisting on the same idea. It was then, the beginning of a deeply social, political, and economic interest. Noticeably, that little boy who said he wanted to be mayor when he grew up had leadership pretensions.

My name is Julián, and I was born in Rosario, Argentina. Though nowadays I do not consider myself to be a leader, along my life I found myself holding leadership positions, both formal and informal. In formal leadership, an individual is officially recognized as head of a group or organization. In this way, in my last years of primary and secondary school, I was appointed to be House Captain by the student body’s Housemates. In informal leadership, instead, the group’s leader lacks an official status of the group’s leader, but it is still seen as a leader by other group members. In my case, many of my friends seek me for answers and guidance in academic topics, while I seek my friends for answers and guidance in other topics. Thereby, throughout my life, different experiences have shaped the way in which I think of a leader and taught me lessons that will be useful in a potential future leadership.

Self-discovery

The first reflection takes me back to my last year of high school. My school organizes the student body into two major teams which are called Houses and I was Captain of one of those two. As House Captain, apart from representing my House whenever it was necessary, I was particularly responsible for preparing the team for Sports Day —an athletic competition. One of the things we had to prepare, my Housemates and I, was the choice of a motto and decorations. In that sense, everything was apparently going well, when I realized that a girl seemed very upset and annoyed with me. When I approached her to ask what was wrong, she told me that she felt that her opinions were not taken into account by me. And that was completely true, but I had been unaware about it until she told me. I was taking all the decisions alone, disregarding teamwork without considering others’ points of view. That experience got me started on learning about myself as a leader and my own blind spots. If you make all the decisions individually, it is difficult —if not impossible— to encourage people to give the best of themselves.

Lesson 1: Teamwork is a key aspect in leadership.

Open to change

The second reflection is about decision-making. As a curious person, I am constantly in the pursuit of knowledge and striving to broaden my viewpoints in various disciplines. It is no surprise, then, that when it came the time to choose which path to follow in my last year of high school, I was torn between different career paths. I was certainly passionate about, and am I still passionate about, social sciences: Politics, Economics, History, International Relations, all were options in consideration. I finally enrolled in Political Science studies, but I did not last long. I rapidly switched to Economics, a field that offers a higher apprenticeship and greater job opportunities. Nevertheless, the process of taking the decision of switching degrees entailed not only finding out what I really wanted for me, but also taking the courage of leaving behind what I had prepared for. Fortunately, in the Bachelor´s Degree in Economics I have found a program in which my interests are welded together as well as a strong tool capable of transforming people’s reality through its application in public policy, which is one of the fields that I would like to work on in the future.

Lesson 2: A leader should be courageous to change.

Keep on keepin' on

The third reflection has to do with failures and frustrations. Having applied twice for the Friends of Fulbright scholarship, had been shortlisted for both, but ultimately failed to win either, meant a break in my life that made me rethink what I was doing wrong and what I was failing in so that my attempt to get the scholarship was truncated twice. It used to happen that my first answer to everything was “no”. For fear of the unknown, for fear of leaving my comfort zone, for fear of being wrong, for whatever, “yes” was never my first answer. Until these frustrating experiences made me realize and ask myself, “What if this situation turns out to be the best I have ever lived?”, “What if I get to know new people?”, “What if I meet a future business partner?”, and I ended up giving a chance to whatever the invitation was. Both frustrated applications led me to participate as a research assistant in Think Tanks, NGOs, and foundations and as a civic volunteer for election and census days. And boy did it pay off to start doing, doing, and doing things. The third application was the charm, and here I am, in IUPUI writing the autobiography for the final project of the Friends of Fulbright program.

Lesson 3: Leaders should have failure and frustration experiences so as to know how to insist, persist, resist, and never give up.

The national soccer team as an example

After a drought of 27 years without a title for the National soccer team, Argentina's losing streak ended with the victory of the Copa América Championship in 2021. But none of this would have been possible without a head coach as Lional Scaloni that, apart from holding that position, he became a leader for many people regardless their belonging to the world of sports or not.

Scaloni showed the ability to motivate and recognize the players and build a strong human group, making difficult decisions, facing adversities, and enduring uncertainty.

Humility, teamwork, humanity, and hope was what Scaloni transmitted since he arrived as coach of Argentina, giving lessons about leadership to all.

Looking into the future

I can say, and with great honor, that these were three lessons that have forged me to be who I am today and who I want to be tomorrow. Like that little boy who wanted to print all the money it took to end people’s shortcomings, today’s Julián continues wanting to work for those challenges that are still pending in our societies. Perhaps not as a mayor of my city, but certainly from positions in the public sector or in international organizations. Oh, I almost forgot, but now that I study economics, I understand what my dad was trying to say.

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