Leadership Anonymous

I could feel the creative energy growing, pushing restlessly against the silence as they waited for me to finish reading the brief. As soon as I did, it released itself in an outburst; voices grew loud as they struggled to make themselves heard, eyes flashed, hands gestured, and ideas bounced uncontrollably, colliding and reacting with each other like atoms in a heated gas. As the discussion expanded rapidly in this state of intangibility, I recognised the need for containment. I needed to transform it into something solid; a script, with everyone’s ideas in place, arranged to support each other.

We were at the Aitchison College’s Art Fest, Pakistan’s biggest Art and Performing-Arts competition, participating in the media category ‘Exposè’. As Head-Delegate, I’d held auditions, chosen a team, and now had to manage and direct the making of a news-segment video on the topic that had just been revealed to us —“The removal of the doggy-face-filter by Snap-Chat and the ensuing uproar.”

Although the subject matter may have been frivolous, our attitude towards the work could not be. No corners could be cut. Every punchline had to be delivered with perfect precision, every goof practiced, every exaggeration just-so. I was determined...