By
Amicitia I. Maloon-Gibson, MHR, MA, CSP
“If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility
seriously.” Romans 12:8 (NLT)
T
he union of Claude and Juanita Maloon qualifies me as a product
of the Baby Boomer’s era. An era of “Change and Yes, I can or no
I won’t - the evolution of women
in new roles. Women were evolving in non-traditional roles and
stepping out of the home in to the
workforce. The radio stations
played songs with messages like
“You’ve come a long way baby
to get where you got to today.”
Women sent messages through
songs, like “Respect” and “I
will survive” by the Queen of
Soul Aretha Franklin. Women
were seen on billboards – for
cigarettes ads…I remember
the Virginia Slims commercials. Women in the movies of
“leading roles” got the traditional parts like June Cleaver
in “Leave it to Beaver.” the
stay at home submissive
mom; and I Love Lucy, the
American Red Haired actress loved by her viewers
who was the opposite of June Cleaver – she never listened to her husband. Two other sitcoms I remembered were “Good Times” with another
stay at home mom who kept the family together during hard times and
the Cosby Show. What I remember about leadership and the Cosby Show
was Claire Huxtable. She was a working professional, maintained the
home, raised five children and enjoyed life. My perception of these
events in my life contributed to a part of my socialization process – good
or bad blended together they had some impact on my life.
What is leadership? Leadership is an interactive conversation that draws
people toward a comfort zone with the language of commitment and
responsibility from a personal level. Throughout my career as a professional soldier and leader, I have read may books on leadership that gave
me many perspectives of leadership from various scholars that have
studied the topic. Books by great men and women such as John
Maxwell, Stephen Covey, General Colin Powell, General Julius W. Becton, Jr.; Miriam Langston Heard, and Bishop Theodore Dexter Jakes,
James McGregor Burns and many others. During my twenty-five plus
years as a leader I adapted to the many definitions of leadership based
on the situation at that specific time. I embraced the definition: “ Leadership is the art of accomplishing more than the science of management
says is possible”…a leadership primer of eighteen lessons from