A tree has to have strong roots in order to grow, prosper and succeed in its purpose. This metaphor explains that those who want to pursue leadership and social justice must have a purpose. One must establish a solid foundation of support, knowledge, motivating forces, and love, so that they can grow, prosper, and succeed in their field of leadership and/or social justice. This idea can be applied to almost all aspects of our lives, but when it comes to leadership and social justice, this idea is very relevant and important to remember in order to complete a leadership task.
A leader is an individual who can use his power or platform to persuade and attract followers. Leaders know how to make their followers feel equal and not submissive and unimportant. Leaders know that their followers are part of their base and often treat them as such. A tree without strong roots will not be able to grow or stay strong and tall. First it takes root and then it grows higher and higher until it shoots up into the sky. Therefore, if the leader were the tree, they must first establish their roots and foundations before they can spread out and become a strong tree, only then will they reach the expectations of their societies.
A social justice leader or activist must act like a tree when it comes to succeeding in their purpose and bringing about the change they advocate for. For example, if a leader advocates for an end to racism, she must first educate people on what racism is; she may be able to provide steps and/or a plan on how to eliminate racism in her group; capable of eradicating and ending racism in their societies. Leaders must find people who want the same things as them, and they must win followers who are willing to advocate for the cause. Leaders also need to have people behind them in everything they are doing. This is what establishing a foundation and growing a strong foundation looks like.
From personal experience, I believe that establishing a foundation is extremely important and that leaders must be of the same mindset to be successful and achieve a goal. My sponsor, Tesha Boyd, is Charlotte, NC Mentor of the Year (2017) because she was able to build a strong base of supporters, sponsors, and advertisers. Tesha made connections and got everything she needed to create the huge success of a youth program that she now has. This program teaches underprivileged children how to succeed in school life lessons, how to treat others, and how to do everything with excellence. She has gathered volunteers, like me and a few other colleagues of mine, and asked us to advocate for the program that she has created. She made sure her name got out there and eventually won the kids, the parents, the money and the donations to get started. She still gets resources to keep the program running. This example shows that a leader needs to realize that he cannot do anything on his own. There is no such thing as a self-made man, because every leader has had people who back and support him.
A concept that sweeps all of these things together would be Community Conferred Leadership. A leader must treat his peers, subordinates and superiors as family, as if they were a community (which they are) and build from that. A community is made up of many different types of people and supporters. Therefore, a leader and the community or group within it must be diverse and inclusive. A leader can’t limit her community to just people who look, act, sound and think like them, or not much will get done and they probably won’t achieve their goals. This again has a strong foundation, because a foundation must not only be strong, but it must be diverse and inclusive, because if there are many different types of people with different experiences, perspectives, ideas, values, and attitudes then the community will achieve many things. .
A strong and diverse community-oriented foundation is what a leader needs to thrive, succeed, and fulfill their purpose in social justice or anything else.