Sunday, October 26, 2014
#6 - 10/25/'14
For the 2014-2015 National History Day project, I chose Andrew Mellon as the topic for the leadership theme. I am not fully sure if I made a correct choice, for it is unclear if he is a leader or not. To give a brief summary, Andrew W. Mellon was born to a rich family, and later in his life, he was appointed to serve as the Secretary of Treasury, which he did for ten years and eleven months. In 1913, he established a memorial for his father, called the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research. It soon became to be known as Carnegie Mellon University, and there, he was an alumni president and trustee of University of Pittsburgh. Even though he spent and devoted a lot of his time to serve the position of a "leader", it is vague to tell if he deserved the title of a "leader". Nowadays, the college accepts 18% of its applicants, and the applicants must be admiring Andrew Carnegie and Andrew Mellon for what a huge contribution they had made for the people. Moreover, he did succeed; as he offered many people an opportunity to better education, him and his school gained fame, and he lived the rest of his life as a wealthy person. My question is, is this information enough to endow him the title of a leader, and if not, what other information is required?
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I don't think that really qualifies him to be a leader, I'm sure he must have done things that were worthy of leadership. By this I mean doing this for the sake of setting a good example. This seems to be my favorite form of leadership, this is because outward telling people what to do leaders or commenting leaders aren't necessarily what we need. Them telling us what to do to follow their instructions is the best form of leadership in my eyes. I believe the best leadership is shown when you can passively be the role model, have no claim to fame, but setting an example through any actions, that is being a leader. Finding qualities in Mellon's life where he worked with others, and possible situations where he inspired others, could be seen as leadership.
ReplyDeleteI think that even though he may not have "deserved" the title of leader, if he was in a leadership position I think that would satisfy the leadership part, and the university certainly stands as a part of his legacy. I think that information is enough to show his legacy, but not enough to show him as a leader. To do that I think you would need more information of his time as Secretary of Treasury and alumni president, as you have mentioned.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Katie that the fact that he was in a leadership position qualified him a leader, but I also believe that he was not entirely a leader, because of the fact that he does not really qualify as a leader. I believe that even though he held a leadership position, he did not really lead a new organization to a point. Although, he did in a way found a school and open up education, which does in a way certify him as leading a cause. I believe that either side of the question is up for debate, and either side can be proved, it just depends on how you structure your argument with your evidence. You can point out the answer that he was a leader because of his achievements, and then you can also argue that he is not a leader because he does not have enough achievements.
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