Judging Wrongly

I needed to talk to Arinze, our course representative. He often carried himself around like the king of the classroom, with a touch of arrogance.Time and again, I watched him turn down people's suggestions and advice, always behaving like he has all the answers. The truth was, he wasn’t living up to the trust we had placed in him as a leader.

As I made my way across the lecture room, I noticed Arinze leaning against the wall, arms crossed, surrounded by a small group of other classmates that was making enquiries about one thing or the other.

Approaching him, I asked if we could talk to him aside. He raised an eyebrow, surprised, but nodded in agreement, i thought he was going to embarass me, but he was just humble.
We found a quieter corner of the classroom, and I sat down. I immediately started to talk about how things had been going this semester and how it felt like he often dismissed the suggestions we tried to make.

At first, he was defensive. He claimed that He he was merely trying to lead the class arguing that if he took things too lightly, in his view, would result in people not taking him seriously.

But after much deliberations, I let him know that true leadership comes not just from commanding respect but from earning it. I emphasized that he could be strong without being dismissive. People wanted to feel valued, not whisked away.

I was sure my sermon had gotten to him, he agreed with me and promised to change. It was not just hid promise, his eyes assured me.