Profit Isn’t the Priority in Leadership, Service Is?!

Preston Media
Mar 10
4 min read

So you think you can lead?

With the hall and guild elections on the horizon, the Aston Preston Hall First Year Experience (FYE) and Residential Leadership Programme hosted a leadership session to help Prestonites to answer this question as they sought to serve the AZ Preston Hall and the UWI.

Aptly named “Step to the Front”, the session held on February 17, 2026 was a part of the initiative to ignite and/or nurture Prestonites' passion for the service of leadership. The guest speaker invited to captain this leader-ship was none other than Jamaica’s own, Senator Allan Bernard.

“Captain” Senator Allan Bernard is a politician, educator, and development practitioner currently serving as an Opposition Senator in the Senate of Jamaica. He has an extensive career in community development, education, and social transformation, having worked for nearly three decades in roles that heavily feature grassroots activism and national-level development planning.

The senator brought to Preston an evening of new perspectives, discussions on leadership and a short lesson on economics and social justice. He began by introducing a "grounding", opting for a conversation instead of a speech. Eschewing the microphone, the senator spoke directly to the students in the language of the people as he sought to “hol’ a reason” with current and future leaders.

The "Grounding" of Leadership: Refocusing on Authenticity over Authority

Bernard underlined that his duty and sojourn as an Opposition Senator would be about the people and social justice (Jamaica Observer). He charged those seeking to lead to do the same with the following messages:

Leave the ivory tower: Leadership isn't about the title or the prestige of the Guild or hall committee. A leader is to remain grounded in humility and authenticity and not in the privileged aloofness of authority.
Remember the grass’ roots: Your mandate is the people. Alternative economics teaches that the most valuable asset isn't the budget you're allocated, but the trust and social capital of your fellow students.
Be a voice for the unseen: Your leadership must be an undertaking for the underprivileged. In the context of UWI, that is looking out for the student struggling with fees, the first-year student feeling lost, and the worker who keeps our hall running.

The "Empty Box" and the Ship Builders

In the session, Senator Bernard talked about the perseverance needed to "load up a ship" from an "empty box on the ground” as he referenced Garvey's Black Star Line. He urged the Prestonites to view themselves as "ship builders" who generate social and cultural value by applying market principles, rather than as simple job seekers. This hit home for the attendees who, as freshmen, arrived at Preston Hall feeling like an "empty box," isolated and pressured by the financial burden of higher education. Benard tasked Prestonites to:

Build a ship: You are not training to be job seekers who merely plug into an existing, broken system. You are training to be ship builders, who revolutionize and innovate. Ship builders who are uncomfortable fitting into the “empty box”.
Build social infrastructure: Alternative economics involves the practice of creating support systems where none exist. If a student is hungry, we build a pantry. If a student is failing, we build a peer-tutoring collective.
Build your value: Realise that your "excellence" isn't just your GPA (the spreadsheet) but also it’s about the social and cultural value you add to the hall (the spirit).

The Challenge to Preston : A New Frontier

The session had proved fruitful for Prestonites as they began engaging these new perspectives. Attendees even sought tips on how they, as regular civilians, could contribute to the great task of broadening Jamaica’s economic base (that is shift some of the focus from tourism to other sectors such as agriculture) and were advised to improve and strengthen the resources they had that were already working e.g. farms owned by their families. Putting his own spin on what it meant to be in “relentless pursuit of excellence", Bernard's visit offered a blueprint for the greatness we ought to embody. It is a quality that is:

Grassroots-centred: Enhancing the standard of living in our hometowns.
Economically sovereign: Realising that "loading the ship" of our own businesses is necessary for achieving genuine independence.
Socially just: Investigating market dynamics to ensure they benefit people, not just spreadsheets.

As Step to The Front neared the end, Benard closed by reminding Prestonites that the stages set for leadership are not only at the heads of halls, guilds, companies or countries but also in the small places where leadership is needed the most.

“Go lead yuh house. Go lead yuh yaad. Go lead yuh corna. There’s nothing wrong with that”, he stated.

In summary, Senator Bernard issued the challenge to the next generation of leaders to be ship builders and to bridge the gap between the market forces and the nation's spirit (its people) beginning with the UWI. This is to be done while remaining grounded in service and not profit.

So our PMz, you think you can lead?

By Preston Media