Leslie Knope Leadership

Without great leaders in this world, human progress would have reached a standstill many years ago. Gandhi peacefully led India to civil independence from Britain, Alice Paul bravely fought for women’s suffrage, Steve Jobs revolutionized modern technology, and so on; without leaders to light the way, the masses are left with purpose but no set direction. The fictional character Leslie Knope from Parks and Recreation is one of the many who embody leadership. One might ask, why Mrs. Knope? Her character is derived from numerous feminist icons such as Jeannette Pickering Rankin, Nancy Pelosi, Madeleine Albright, Condoleezza Rice, and Hillary Clinton; because of this, when I pick Leslie Knope, I also pick all these inspirational women. Moreover,

after watching seven seasons of the show, I experienced her inner turmoil, her political challenges, and her personal relationships so I feel I understand her better than a biography of a leader. She’s not only admirable, but relatable as well.
The Deputy Director of the Pawnee City Department of Parks and Recreation became the President of the United States using her outstanding leadership qualities.

To an occasionally intense degree, Leslie Knope is an ambitious, hard-working, persistent, and optimistic individual who believes that the government should always be of service to its people. Over the years, Leslie has had to face numerous challenges, be it her boss, her co-workers, or even the people she’s trying to provide a service for. When the public screamed at her at public forums, she saw it as “people caring loudly at me.” While this moment was exaggerated for comedic effect, it delineated Leslie’s optimism and persistence. It was this attitude that calmly dealt with sexist government employees, introduced numerous government programs, set up a state country fair, inspired unmotivated co-workers, became the President of the United States, and most importantly, built a park from scratch in an open

lot.
A woman of Leslie’s caliber overflows with things I admire.

In a primarily male run government, Leslie charges in as a feminist icon for anyone watching. In addition, the level of focus and competency she possess would make any soul jealous. For example, her proposal to clean up a polluted local river was so impressive that a high ranking government official paid her a visit and offered her a job in federal government.It was her hardwork and attention to detail that allowed her to climb the government ladder and anyone who can do that without a shred of dishonesty deserves the utmost respect.

For these reasons, Leslie has become one of my role models. Aside from our love of waffles, I feel Leslie and I share a few things. We are both feminists who would not hesitate to help a woman in need or correct people who have misconceptions of feminism. In addition, we both have an attention to detail that always yields a superior result we’re proud of. However, we both have our negatives: because we want things to be perfect, we take on too much and forget to rely on others. However, we are both working on changing that because we have supportive people around

us.
While Leslie and I share some leadership qualities, there are still areas in which I lack. During the Summer Retreat, I expected I would be a Peer Leader that would hit it off with my freshmen almost immediately. I hoped I would be able to leave a profound impact on them during most outreaches and be comfortable mingling with them during classroom time. The standard I set for myself was a bit unrealistic so it’s no surprise I fall short, My group and I aren’t going to be able to reach every single freshman during every single outreach, but we’re going to keep trying our best and now feel that if at least one freshman leaves an outreach feeling he or she gained something, it’s a success. In addition, regarding mingling during classroom time, sometimes I feel awkward just going to them and saying hello because it feels like they most don’t want to be bothered. After talking with my group about this sentiment, we agreed we had similar feelings and I concluded that I need to stop worrying about the freshmen disliking me because that’s preventing them from having an opinion on me at all.