“To be honest, I wanted to give up [being the leader]. Nothing works no matter what I do. If I can’t strike a balance, I’ll just dance. That’s how I felt when I started the crew HolyBang.”

That’s what Honey J told the other members of her crew on the final episode of Mnet’s Street Woman Fighter. This exploration of leadership right up to the very end of the show not only exposed viewers to the dance scene but also posed questions about what a leader is and what makes a good leader. The leaders of each crew—Honey J, Monika, Leejung, Gabee, Aiki, Rihey, no:ze and Hyojin Choi—had to figure out how to handle the challenges presented to them on each episode which were also an opportunity for viewers to see their individual ways of leading a team.

What makes a good leader? What usually comes to mind is a captain in the traditional sense—someone who exudes a sense of power over their team. Monika, the leader of PROWDMON, stood closest to this definition. Her philosophy was to treat Street Woman Fighter as a stage where dancers are dancers and compete with one another and to choose ideas for their choreographies that prioritized showing off their true colors over winning popularity, even if they wouldn’t be so widely understood. She emphasizes her own views on dancing and leads the other members to follow along with her clear vision and philosophy. While in leadership mode, Monika couldn’t be expected to be friendly or gentle; instead, she’s a good leader because she’s able to make all the others understand her vision and her thought process. A leader who doesn’t know for themselves which direction they want to take, or fails to impart that information to others, only serves to confuse the people they lead.

While Monika’s leadership stems from vision and philosophy, Leejung and Gabee believe that, even more so than vision, it’s important to place emphasis on the unique traits of the members of YGX and LACHICA, respectively. Leejung makes choreography that reveals the individuality of each member in her crew, including b-girl Yell, and Yeojin, with her on-point facial expressions and great strength. Leejung grasps what everyone in her crew excels at and knows that they can put on a better performance with better synergy by coordinating everyone properly. Gabee, too, realizes how important it is to show off LACHICA’s range and to put on high-quality performances, of course, but the time the members spend together and the process they go through is every bit as precious to her. She recognizes that she and her crewmates did their best regardless of whether things go well or not, and that the outcome can’t change the fact that they’re fantastic dancers. When Simeez lost in a battle to determine the main dancer among her rank, Gabee boosted the crew’s morale by saying, “I don’t know about anyone else, but I thought Meez was the best and got the most compliments. And that’s what counts.” And in the final episode, Rian sent a message to Gabee: “Don’t worry—you’re doing a good job. You’ve done great.” This reflected how Gabee sent messages to all her crewmates throughout every challenge to keep their spirits up.

Monika, Leejung and Gabee all have their own way of being effective leaders, but leaders can’t be perfect and their style of leadership can change over time. It becomes clear through Honey J’s experience on Street Woman Fighter that simply being called a leader doesn’t automatically make someone a good leader, and that a leader can improve by learning more about themselves and their team. The reason Honey J called it quits with CocaNButter’s crew was over her tendency to make her own rules. She reconciled with Rihey during a battle and acknowledged Rihey’s dancing abilities, but she nearly made the same mistake during the episode with the Mega Crew mission. Subconsciously planning the choreography with the intent to put herself at the center of it, she tells the members of her crew who said they want to show off their skills and their flair, “I don’t believe in you yet.” But at some point, such mistakes stop repeating themselves. Honey J had as much presence as ever, of course, but the choreography for the mission really highlighted Jane’s role, while Honey J placed the other members in the middle as well for the final challenge that decided the winning team. She was later able to address her lack of faith in them, saying, “I think I was biased in the way I saw all of you. You were cool, seriously.”

When Honey J says she still doesn’t know what makes a good leader, Jane, under her leadership, replies, “You say you don’t know what makes a good leader, but there’s no right answer, so I hope that isn’t weighing you down.” In other words, there’s no way to know what makes a good leader. Thanks to the leaders on Street Woman Fighter, however, we can see a more diverse vision of leadership: there’s Aiki, who lent her support not only to Monika, Leejung, Gabee and Honey J, but also said Seon Yoonkyung was “the sexiest of all time” when she was criticized for being “unsexy”; Hyojin Choi, who told Lee Chaeyeon not to “get caught up in what other people think—you have to be able to express your own opinion,” when she thought her past as an idol was a hinderance to her career; plus Rihey (CocaNButter) and no:ze (WAYB), who each quietly did everything for all their crew members. The women of the show taught us that leadership comes in many different forms. Even if someone doesn’t appear to have the qualities that make a leader, they’ll be fine so long as they can learn and grow, that’s exactly what makes a leader. It’s the most important message of 2021.