SGA's Leadership Seminars

"Hitler is an example of a good leader." Those aren't my words but the words of guest speakers who come to our school and lecture the heads of every club on how to be an effective leader. Every semester SGA requires the President, Vice President, and Treasurer, of all clubs here on campus to sit in on these leadership seminars for eight hours. I've been to three and every times Hitler was cited as an example of a great leader. All three times the people around me just sat in their seats and all three times I felt like I was in a Twilight Zone episode.

I'm going to play history buff for the next paragraph or so and completely debunk the fact that Hitler was a good leader. (I can do this being I got a 97 on my regents.) Now according to these speakers, Hitler was a good leader because he led Germany out of a depression and put them back in the forefront as one of the main powers in Europe.

First off he didn't lead them out of debt. All Hitler did was ignore it. They finally paid off that debt in 2010. In terms of length, the Nazi reign was a little over a decade long. That's nothing compared to a list of other empires we've had. The Byzantine Empire lasted 1,123 years, the Holy Roman Empire was 844 years, and the Egyptians ran things for 500 years. Hitler was in power for just 12 years. That barely beats out Bruno Sammartino's combined first and second title reigns as champion of the professional wrestling world.

Here are some of Hitler's other accolades; slaughtering a few Jews, Gypsies and anyone not Arian, going against treaties, sending the world to war, and having his army march through the Soviet Union during winter. Since that's all cleared up, what constitutes a good leader to these speakers is a man who was a liar, a racist, didn't realize Russia was cold, wanted the world to look like Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift, and had a regime which barely lasted a decade. The only positive out of all of that would've been the Taylor Swift thing.

I have to question the leadership abilities of these speakers who cite one of the most disgusting people in our 10,000 year human history as a swell guy we can learn a thing or two from. I'm all for defending free speech. They should be able to say whatever they want to say; even Hitler being a good leader. It's just, if you have the right to say whatever you want then you also has the right to be called a baffoon.

The speaker this semester is a student at our school. He did the whole Hitler schpeel too but that's not my only complaint. According to him, someone awkward who stares in to space and looks like they have their head in the clouds is a sign of weak character and aren't the type of people you should hire. Some of the best bullsh*tters of our time had a confident voice. That Hitler guy was great on the mic. What he said wasn't so grand though.

I could be wrong but I'm just going to assume that the student speaker this semester deals more in middle management type leadership than in creativity. I'm guessing this because he put a lot of emphasis on plastic macho crap like handshakes and eye contact. Middle management tends to concentrate on that type of stuff which doesn't really matter. Now just like I was the history buff earlier in the article, I'm now going to play the expert on creativity.

Michio Kaku is a theoretical physicist who developed "string theory" -the idea that everything in nature is held together by perfect symmetrical string- and he's an extremely awkward guy. He's legendary for staring out in to space or looking down and being in heavy thought while he walks.

I'm sure the guys at Apple who put together pieces of technology that almost everyone in America owns aren't examples of confident, social behavior. They don't need to be either. They're too busy doing something important like changing the world. Who cares if they don't know how to hold a conversation or bring a girl home from the club? All of that would get in the way of doing real things like changing the world. I'd rather hire those guys and Michio Kaku than someone who can shake my hand tight. What does a handshake mean anyway? I don't want someone's germs all over me. Tell me what's so great about you. That's all that should matter in the hiring process.

Kurt Cobain of Nirvana is my favorite example of an awkward guy who's brilliant. He was an extremely shy person. In interviews he'd touch his face and look away from the interviewer whenever he tried to come up an answer. That's textbook "awkward guy." Image was the last thing he was worried about. When MTV told him not to play "Rape Me", he started his set on national television by saying "Rape Me." On Saturday Night Live he dyed his hair with kool-aid. He'd never get a job like that. Kurt didn't care though. All he wanted to do was let his music speak for himself and it shows because all his records survived long after he passed away.

An example of a good leader isn't one who passes judgment on someone because of their outer appearance. To me that shows weak character way more than someone who isn't an expert on grabbing someone else's hand firmly. All that shows is you've completely based a whole person's life and achievements in one moment.  But hey, what do I know. I'm just some idiot with my head in the clouds all day.