By Diana Kim

Growing up, I danced competitively. Imagine “Dance Moms” down to the stage makeup, costumes, and hairpieces. While I am no longer in the competitive circuit, I still dance, but just for myself: part exercise, part stress relief. During those competition days, stretching was a part of my daily routine. I would be in the splits while reading or doing homework. There was always more flexibility to be achieved, not just for myself but for my teammates; even those who were like Gumby still stretched every day.

I wish I retained that flexibility of my youth. Granted, I am still far more flexible than the average person, but it takes so much more work for my body to feel loose. Even before heading to a dance class today, I have to prepare my body and warm up; the class warm-up we do at the beginning of each session is no longer enough to loosen my muscles and joints in preparation for the kicks, jumps, and turns we will do throughout the class. Failure to warm up properly can lead to injury. Failure to do some light stretching after waking up can lead to tight joints that cause me to limp around the house for the first 15 minutes of the day.

Leadership requires flexibility, perhaps not in the physical sense of being able to do the splits, but rather the ability to face change and challenges. As a leader, I have to realize that not everything will go the way I envisioned, and therefore I have to be flexible enough to adapt. But flexibility is not something that can go from 0 to 100. Just like I need to do some light stretching in the morning to loosen up my body for daily tasks and just like I need to stretch and warm up so that I can do the various dance moves in class, leadership flexibility requires some stretching. Leaders need to build up their flexibility.

This is something I continue to work on in myself as a person and as a leader. I am a perfectionist — this has been a weakness of mine, as I struggle to do anything unless I know I can do it perfectly. Perfectionism has made me rigid, absent of flexibility; I find myself unable to move forward or make progress. I am working on becoming more flexible as a person. But this process is not just for my projects or assignments; this must be a part of my daily life. Just as a dancer needs to stretch everyday or she will become stiff, leaders must exercise their flexibility on a daily basis. You can lose your flexibility if you don’t continue to work on it; rigidity is something that can creep back into our systems. I know this won’t happen overnight: some days I will succeed (remember to stretch) and some days I will fail (forget to stretch). Just as there is always more flexibility to be achieved in our bodies, flexibility in leadership must be a process we constantly work towards.

Diana Kim is a PhD student at Fuller Theological Seminary and is majoring in Christian Ethics. Her current research area of interest is Asian American feminist ethics. She is committed to teaching and equipping the next generation to be passionate for Jesus and to live out His passion and care for the world.