Stefan Wolfe

Leadership In Don Quixote

               In Don Quixote, Sancho has been given a special title as governor of his own city. Sancho does a great job, given that he has been Quixote’s half-witted sidekick is previous adventures. I believe the main reason Sancho has been doing such a good job is because he has been in the shoes of the people he is governing. Since Sancho has been a lower-class worker, he understands what his people are going through and their own trials and tribulations. Because of this, I believe Sancho has a deeper caring and legitimate want to genuinely help the people he is governing with their problems. Even leaders in history of today’s time have had greater success when they can relate to the people they are leading. For example, Ronald Raegan who was once a United States president grew up in an apartment building with his father being a traveling salesman. Raegan also lead the country into what was considered one of Americas most prosperous time periods. I believe this was because he possessed the same quality as Sancho did, the ability to relate to the middle class he was leading. I personally believe that if a leader genuinely cares about the problems that his people has, and has a force driving him to do the right thing for them, that is what makes a great leader a great leader.

               Even America’s founding president George Washington was from a middle-class family. Although he wasn’t poor, he could relate to the men and women who were being abused by Great Britain. He helped make this country into what it is today and had some of the same qualities that Sancho has in Don Quixote. Everyone today believes that you must come from a powerful family to be a good leader, but to me that just simply isn’t the case. Just look at Donald Trump for example. Trump will become our next president and he has never been poor in his whole life. Trump has no understanding of what it is to be middle class or to be poor because he came from a very wealthy family who gave him a million dollars to get started with his career. This is bad because people who have not had to go through any hardships and have never had to struggle in their lifetime do not genuinely care about their people, and probably won’t do the best job leading the people they are trying to lead. To me, it is amazing Cervantes included this characteristic for Sancho as he leads his community because he knows the best way to understand someone and their conflicts is to be in their shoes.