LEARNING TO LEAD

Key Insight 1

“A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.” This quote by Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. embodies the idea that once you start believing more in your ability to succeed than scared over the possibility of failure, you can become unstoppable. My first key insight begins with enrollment in a management course my first semester at the University of South Carolina and ends two  years later as I was finishing my year on the executive committee of one of the largest organizations on campus.

As a public relations major, you are required to enroll in MGMT 371 Principles of Management in the business school. In this course, I learned the foundational principles of setting goals, leading large groups and the personality traits that are commonly found among top executives. My learning can be demonstrated best through an in-depth study guide I created prior to an exam in the course. As a sophomore who had never been exposed to leadership or the importance of managers having the natural ability to lead, I found value in examining how I have conducted myself  in the past to see if it matched that of successful managers both in business and organizations I was familiar with. However, principles learned in a course cannot translate into confidence that you will be successful unless you overcome the fear of failure and take a risk by testing out those skills for yourself.

One year later, I had the opportunity to do that. As a member of Alpha Delta Pi Sorority, a  400 person organization on campus, I was involved enough to know that there were positive changes that could be made that would benefit the organization in the long run. As a result of gaining the experience in my management course on how to effectively set goals and further how to create buy-in within an organization through successful people managing, I felt comfortable applying, interviewing and further being an elected into an executive committee position where I would have to do this. My work in this position can best be supported by the monthly reports I submitted to executive office that provided evaluations on the goals we set at the beginning of each semester. In my role as Membership Education Vice President, I was responsible for educating the chapter as a whole as well as the 117 new members we gained in the fall of 2017. I also supported our officers in leadership, sisterhood, ritual and alumnae relations functions. With this responsibility, I learned that every leader to follower relationship is different and that success cannot be found unless you determine how each  individual work best. I also learned that change cannot happen unless you develop the confidence to be okay with failing.

In all, what began with a simple introductory course aimed to teach you the basics of management, led to me becoming interested in and further being successful in  managing a 400 member organization. Without being exposed to the basics of setting goals and further gaining confidence in my natural ability to lead, I wouldn't have gained my most valuable leadership experience to date. In my next two key insights, I will continue on that path to leadership, but begin to find and incorporate what I am passionate about into that experience.