Accepting the Role

Often times people that don’t consider themselves good leaders are forced into a leadership role. Kamila, in The Dressmaker of Khair Khana, was left the lead role, by her parents, during a tough time. For her it was a big change. She went from a student in school to the teacher of a school of girls. Although Kamila was young, she was an excellent leader. As soon as the Taliban invaded, she looked for ways to keep her sisters and neighborhood friends occupied. She instantly organized a group of books exchange for herself and the girls. This was only a small job compared to the task given to her by her father. Before he left to seek work, he asked Kamila to take care of the family. Taking care of a family is a major job, and her father meant domestically and financially. As a good leader Kamila accepted the task. She became the primary caretaker of her family, and when things became tight she searched for ways to keep her family surviving. Kamila leadership abilities were great because she learned something new in order to provide. First Kamila was making dresses to help her family, but when she noticed a booming business, she decided to help other struggling families. A great leader is also a great teacher, and Kamila was great at teaching girls to make dresses. I’ve never considered myself a great leader, but actually in my family I am. Since I am the oldest daughter of a young mother, I had to make plenty of sacrifices for my other siblings. I learned how to cook, clean, and do other duties to help my mother all while attending school. My younger siblings look up to me, so as a leader I know it is important for me to always do well. I never wanted to do the extra things I had to do at home, they were forced upon me. I just didn’t want my family to fall apart so I made sacrifices, and the sacrifices made me a strong leader. Looking after my siblings has made me want to help others for the rest of my life. Being a physician will allow me to display leadership in the workplace while helping people of all kind. As I have grown over the years I’ve noticed that I possess more qualities of a great leader.

What Defines A Leader?

I recently read a quote online that said, “Leadership is inspiring others to pursue your vision within the parameters you set, to the extent that it becomes a shared effort, a shared vision, and a shared success” (Steve Zeitchik). A leader is defined as someone that can guide others to success. When Kamila started her sewing business in her house, she showed very good leadership skills. She was able to teach everyone that was working for her how to sew and she made a very large profit from it. Even though the Taliban was trying to stop the women of Khair Khana from working and going out in public, she was able to get around it and start her business. She was able to help other people out by hiring them to work so they could bring money back to their families. Being apart of the Xavier University cheerleading team, I have developed many leadership skills. You’re only as good as your weakest link, which means that even if you’re the best on the squad, it won’t mean anything if you don’t help others improve too. I always help my teammates out by encouraging them during conditioning and by helping them out with cheers. As a team, we all have a shared vision to be the best that we can possibly be, and so if I do not encourage them and help them out, we will never achieve our goal. In the future, I would like to be a surgeon, and leadership skills are very important in the medical field. There always needs to be someone that others can look to when something goes wrong, and that person needs to know what to do and how to fix the problem. Of course when I first start off as an intern, I won’t hold that position, but over the years I do plan to be a leader for other interns.

Leadership

Leadership and business methods seemed like second nature to Kamila. The Sidiqi family is a large family, but the leadership skills seemed to be passed on to every member. Malika, Kamila’s older sister, set high goals for herself and made sure that she achieved them. By doing this she showed her younger siblings that getting an education and making yourself successful is not an option but a priority.When Malika moved out and started her own family, Kamila became the oldest in the house and definitely followed in her sister’s footsteps and showed her younger brothers and sisters that they should follow their dreams regardless of what anyone says or does to them. But when the Taliban took charge, Kamila knew she had to take her leadership skills to another level. The first thing she did when she came up with her dressmaking idea, was include all the people in her family. She wanted to make sure that no one was just sitting around waiting when they could be doing productive work. When word of her business got around, women and girls of all ages came to the Sidiqi’s home to ask if they could help in any way; Kamila never turned anyone away. She knew that by employing these women they would be able to bring money back to their families and would no longer feel useless. Some of her business methods were dangerous and risky, but she went through with them to prove that she was serious about her business and would not let anything or anyone keep her from changing her life and the lives of others.

I do not have life changing leadership skills like Kamila, but I do have leadership skills that I want my younger siblings to appreciate and hopefully later copy. Everything I do is for my family, especially my younger sibling and cousins, they are the reason that I make sure that I do well in school and come out successful. I want them to know that they should want the best for themselves and for their family. By staying on top of everything that I do, I know that they will want to do the same.

Kamila’s Leadership

In order to be a leader, you must be strong, decisive, focused, and confident.  Kamila possessed all of these traits in the novel, and she was a very inspiring leader.   Kamila showed her strength and confidence simply by just creating her dressmaking business.  Kamila knew that the risk was dangerous. if she and her workers were caught by the Taliban, Kamila knew that the punishment would be severe and brutal, but she did not let that stop her.  She was focused on her business and took very good care of her workers.  Kamila made sure she took all of the necessary precautions to make sure that whoever came in and out of the house would not get caught by the Taliban.  Kamila made sure to use her false name “Roya”, and to never some in contact with her workers outside of business.  The workers knew themselves how huge of a risk they were taking, but Kamila’s confidence and good decision making took a positive toll on her workers, because they felt safe with her.  The values that form the basis for this approach were Kamila’s desire and her kind loving heart.  When the Taliban came to take over her community, Kamila knew that she and her family were going to be in trouble.  She took it upon herself to find a way, by any means to help and take care of her family.  Not only did she help her family, but she found a strong desire in her heart to help her community, which shows how selfless Kamila is.  my leadership compares to Kamila’s because we are both focused, determined, and motivated.  When there is something that I want to accomplish,  I set my mind to it and I will do anything to get it done.  I remain focused because I am so determined to succeed.  Now in college, I still remain determined and focused because I would love to pursue a career as a pharmacist.  I know that this will not be an easy task, but my determination is too strong, and I know that if I remain focused my dream will come true.  I am motivated to pursue my career because I want to make sure that I can provide for myself.  I do not want to rely on anyone to take care of me.  I also want to give back to my family and friends who have helped me throughout my life, because without them I would not be at Xavier today or the person that I am.

Leadership

Kamila exhibits a plethora of leadership and business methods throughout the novel. Her main qualities being selfless service, loyalty, and courage. When doing her business methods she strategically thought through her actions and what she would say, even on the spot she made up a fake name so if she was caught her actions would not harm her family nor community. Roya was her doppelganger for business purposes. She could have easily did nothing and be hopeless for work; however, she took a stand in her family and friends lives by creating a business that flourished and shared her success with them. In addition, she would send money to her parents and she went on a risky journey to visit them just to be sure they were okay. Even before the Taliban took over Kamila showed leadership qualities, such as when she completed school and received her teaching certificate during the civil war in her country. In her country educated women were just becoming popular and Kamila was the second in her family to graduate, she was determined to set an example for her younger siblings. Of course I have had to display leadership qualities all of my life because I am the eldest of my two younger siblings. Like Kamila’s siblings mine look up to me for everything and watch my every move, especially my sister. She tells me all the time how she wants to be just like me, which is why she is one of my motivations, and I do not want to let her down or set the wrong example. My family’s values are what formed the basis of my leadership. When you are expected to do well and people believe in you it makes you want to take the initiative role and be the example.

Kamila’s Leadership

Kamila’s leadership and business methods are definitely something to be admired. Kamila is fearless and innovative, but has a great concern for the people around her. She always strives for advances in her business to make her work more comfortable for her workers and more profitable to all the parties involved. Kamila demonstrates the main values that make up a leader in this way– she cares about people, she is constantly striving for self improvement and the improvements of her business as a whole, and she is not afraid to take risks. The thing that I really admire about Kamila’s leadership style is how she always pushed for improvement for the work that they were doing. She saw the need for more work for all the women in her community that needed help and put herself in danger to make sure that the women could have the work that they needed. My own leadership style is slightly different from Kamila’s. I am an introverted person, which means that sometimes I don’t feel comfortable being in charge in a situation. I have had leadership roles in the past; I am capable of being a leader, but I feel that it is very effective to lead by example and using the strengths of everyone involved to get the best results possible. For example, when I worked in the youth ministry at my church as a Sunday School teacher, I was “in charge” but I really didn’t take every task upon myself. I made sure to listen to my coworkers ideas and suggestions, and put people in charge of what they were good at. I think this was effective because it made everyone feel important and part of a team rather than me just being the sole leader and in charge of everything. I believe I collected these ideas about being a leader through my parents and through my own experience with working in groups. I know when I feel a part of a team and that I am actively contributing, I can work better and the group can be better because I am putting out my best work.

 

Kamila as a leader

Kamila has a wide variety of leadership and business methods that helped bring her business to the success it received throughout the story. Kamila for one was a very driven woman, who went for her goal despite all obstacles in her way. During the time of this story, as we have discussed highly, the Taliban had restrictions over the area in which Kamila resided. Despite these restrictions of the Taliban and despite the fact that she could have ultimately been punished for starting her dressmaking business if caught, Kamila was fearless and did not let it get in the way. One way I feel this compares to my own leadership is that throughout time I have became fearless myself. As I have grown throughout my years of education, I began to take risks and be fearless for what I felt was right and what I knew would be best for my future. This involved leaving home for my sophomore to senior years of high school and staying at a dormitory high school. This involved applying for the GRAMMY Camp in New York, getting accepted, and taking my first flight to be in New York for my first time. Throughout these two situations I did indeed have my great share of nerves as Kamila did starting her business, but I knew I could not let those fears get in the way of my success. Also another method Kamila used for her leadership and business was that she made sure her skills were developed before entering herself into the situation of sneaking behind the Taliban. That’s one method I think I approach into leadership as well. It is always best to go out for a position that know and feel you have experience for instead of entering a position just because. Now there are instances where you do have to task those risks and try things in disregard to you not having prior experience, but I like to take the approach of at least knowing what I get myself into, similar to Kamila with having to sneak behind the Taliban for her business.

What Makes a Leader

Kamila’s sense of leadership was derived from her desire to support her family and it expanded on to becoming a desire to help the entire community. This, in itself, shows how she is selfless and caring because she would definitely profit more by keeping this trade and ability to make money between her sisters and her. She took much risk and went against all odds to start this business. Having several women coming in and out of her home was of the biggest risk in my perspective; it was as if she was asking the Taliban for attention and if she were to end up attracting a more negative attention, all of her work would be for nothing.

Knowing her risk was her strength. She knew that in order to fully operate her business, she would have to take all the necessary precautions. She made sure to devise a plan for when every person would come and leave from the house to ensure that they were to never be caught with more than 10 people. She knew that in order to expand her business, she had to find more clients. She made she to always leave her house with a mabram and made sure to never be caught speaking her clients. She, above all, made sure that she was never without the “protection” of a chardi out in public.

Kamila’s business became a source of hope to the women around her. She took on the challenge of leading them and teaching them for their own good, not hers. She was a leader, not a boss. She stood in the front and took on the challenges while making sure that everyone behind her was surviving. She did not abandon anyone that came to her. She helped teach them skills, made sure them were safe and gave them enough working to make a living.

Kamila is a great example for a leader and I admire her because I have not yet reached that level of leadership. I value her ability to take risk because that is something that I lack. She is able to independently take on the opportunity given to her while I might need a lot more thinking and perhaps guidance. What I can say for myself is that I have the ability to speak my mind whether it’s a good thing or not. I build the basis for my leadership on truth and communication. I take the initiative to create a free atmosphere where there is no tension between members. Speaking your mind and voicing your opinion is crucial to progress.

leadership

In many places, leadership is a quality that is often pursued. However, I find that Kamila seems to be the unconventional leader due to the fact her sense of leadership manifested out of duty in times of great need and mass corruption. I believe that Kamila never saw herself as a leader but rather a house figure taking on the necessary responsibilities for basic survival. What started as a simple means to provide for her family turned into a full fledge operation. Another defining quality of a leader is his or her ability to take necessary risks. Though Kamila faced much hardship, her courage made it possible for her to run an underground operation where it was illegal for women to work. Though this illegal business exemplifies a great deal of risk that must be taken, Kamila is deeply committed to her community where she could not find it in her to turn people away simply because there was a necessity for a sense of unity in a breaking country. Her talents and skills were more specifically established in organization rather than dressmaking. This vital skill allowed her to know and understand where to place the people who were working with her. Not only was it important to know where to place the women, she had to keep her entire operation intact by keeping it away from suspicion from the Taliban. If she were to be revealed, the consequences could be fatal not only to her, but her entire community. Kamila exemplifies the defining qualities of a leader in that she was organized, compassionate, and she took risks.

Though Kamila’s actions are on an incomparable scale, I do find several similarities between myself and Kamila. College has been a big transition and it is obviously nothing like my high school days. These next four years are dedicated to shaping my future. My entire future depends on the fact that I must be wary of the decisions I make whether it is involving time management, building strong student-teacher relationships, or learning who I am and where I stand as a student and where I may stand 10 years from now. Kamila is in every way an honorable leader who has faced more hardship than some of us will ever in a lifetime. I am very fortunate to have come from a privileged family and country where I will not ever have to experience the hardships Kamila had to face; and I feel that if she could emerge as a successful business woman in the darkest of times, she is a role model that I would like to follow.

Kamila’s Strength

When Kamila started her business, the main purpose was to support her family. She then realized that women in general needed work to support themselves and their families. From there she took charge by making sure everybody received work. Kamila wasn’t the person directly up front handling business but she did take charge of finances, business, and relations with other folk helping her. In a way, she was very discrete about everything (her business) because it was illegal for women to talk to any men who weren’t there family, she might have beaten. As a cover up, her brother was the up front man, who really handled business other people. But to a certain amount it had to seem like he wasn’t too suspicious. Her values were those of her community and the people in it, the women mainly. She felt they didn’t deserve the way that they were being treated because they honestly didn’t have the option to support themselves because of the rules of the Taliban.

I’m a very straight forward honest person. Meaning I like to get right to business. I would prefer to work with myself at times to lay the foundation and then allow people in to further the process. Once that is done, I want everything laid out so the work can move smoothly, free from distractions. I value hard work and dedication. My future job really needs hard workers and dedicated folk because there is so much thrown at you and you have to be a sponge and just absorb everything. But I also value family. At times you’re going to need someone to call and cry to because it will get hard. Family will keep you sane and make sure you’re doing just fine. They wont let you quit on yourself and won’t let you fail. That little moment you hurt but then you get back up is what family is here for.