This is an 82 page eBook with more than 70 contributors. Each one of them have provided one word (along with a short 200 word essay on that word) that they think matters now. Download the PDF file (3 MB) by clicking on the button below.
Now is a great time to evaluate yourself. You are in a place where you've created enough experience to look back and you have enough time still to look ahead.
While you may have been placed in your student leadership position by election or selection - you will truly become a student leader through reflection.
If I were able to sit down with you for 30-60 minutes, these are the types of questions I would ask you:
1. What have you learned so far?
2. What do you know now that you wished you would have known coming into your position?
3. What has been your best moment up to this point as a student leader?
4. What have you done to make something easier for next person who will serve in your position?
5. Have you received or heard any negative comments about your leadership this year?
6. Where can you add the most value to your position and your team in the time you have left?
7. What is one thing that you hoped to accomplish this year but you won't be able to?
8. What will you need to do between now and the time you step down from your position in order for you to feel like you finished strong and successfully?
9. What (or who) are you most grateful for up to this point in your student leadership year?
10. What will you do with the answers to the previous nine questions to help you be a better student leader?
Is there a question that you think would be good to ask yourself as a student leader that I missed?
Leave your question below in the comments.
Photo Credit: www.intersectcommunity.com
Looking for potential leaders?
Excellent article over at Learn This
The patterns that emerged were often surprising even to the researchers. The researchers determined that great leaders were passionate about doing what was best for their companies. This drive for the advancement of the company took precedence over their drive for personal advancement and recognition. The leaders of these companies also exercised personal humility by passing forward credit and accepting blame. Additionally, they asked questions as often, if not more often, than they gave answers. This empowered their people to make important decisions which increased their confidence, skills, and commitment to the organization. These leaders also exhibited commonalities within their personal lives. Many of the leaders studied were extremely modest. They often preferred domestic cars or pick-up trucks over exotic sports cars. They also had a tendency to live in moderate houses instead of sprawling mansions or estates. Though humble and modest, these leaders were not meek. They tended to be stoic when it came to important business decisions. They would make tough decisions without great emotion and fanfare but rather with quiet resolve and determination. In short, great leaders are defined by their humility, integrity, determination, and strength of character, not by their stage presence and strength of personality.
You could create a pretty good checklist based on this paragraph alone.
Read the article in its entirety - Why Is It So Hard For Companies To Find Great Leaders?
It's ready and available for student leaders!
The Studentlinc Core Leadership Training Book is completed.
This has been a slow learning process for me as these lessons have evolved from material that I use to teach and train student leaders into a book that I can put into their hands.
Here's some of the highlights of this release:
1. The lessons were previously written to those who work with and advise student leaders. In the process of creating this book, I've changed the audience and written it directly TO student leaders.
2. The lessons were previously sold as a pdf download on studentlinc for $49.99. The book is actually cheaper (by $20 or almost 50%) and is being sold through Lulu for the price of $29.79. The reason? I want you to be able to put this resource into the hands of your student leaders. I didn't write this material to fund my retirement and I don't want money to get in the way of your students having this. In fact, with Lulu, if you start buying the book in bulk the price goes down!
3. I went with a spiral-bound book. It's 252 pages and I want students to write in it, refer back to it, and work through the questions and action items in each chapter. A spiral-bound book allows you to lay the book flat on the table and is much easier to write in.
Again, I'm pretty excited to get this resource into book form. It's something that your student leaders can work through over an entire student leader year. For a little more information visit the Studentlinc Core Leadership Training page on this site.
Here in 2009, there are still some students who use email. Or at least the schools they attend still use it.
One of the quickest ways to get people to ignore your message on my campus is to begin the subject of an email with two words: Message Board.
The subject line of your email is the only thing you have to persuade someone to open that message up and read it. You've spent all of this time crafting a message that needs to get out and then you slap a generic subject line on it. Yawn...
It's time to stand up and be noticed. Don't let your email slide into oblivion without having anyone even glance at it. Try some of these suggestions the next time you have to use good, old-fashioned email to communicate...
1. Put your message in your subject line.
2. Put emotion in your subject line. Use strong words like "Exciting, Super, Powerful, Dynamic, Awe-Inspiring, etc"
3. Tell people what they'll get out of your message if they read it. For example, "You don't want to miss out on this opportunity" or " You won't be able to keep this to yourself"
4. Read the headlines on the magazines at the grocery store checkout. They all have a way of grabbing people's attention. Don't copy them word for word (it won't make sense), but watch how they word things.
5. Use characters, other than letters in your subject line. Something like: [+++This is your subject+++].
I think the best suggestion is to simply put as much information as you can, in a creative way, in the subject line of your email. As more and more students are moving away from email and moving toward Facebook and texting, you'll only have a limited chance to get people's attention.
The Dumb Little Man blog has an excellent article on 7 Signs Of A Leader, which he entitles a "must read."
Guest author, Mr. SelfDevelopment, writes the following at the start of the article...
We all need leaders in our lives: mentors, people to look up to, people that simply get it. Leaders inspire us, help us accomplish our dreams, and teach by example. Leaders make us better people and give us an ideal to strive for.
The measure of leadership is always influence; leaders have an amazing ability to influence our lives. Leaders lead wherever they go; they lead at work, at home, or wherever they happen to be.
So after that intro, it's easy to conclude that being a leader is not an easy task; it requires a collection of very important skills that have to be ingrained into your daily practice - your soul.
Check out all 7 Signs: Vision, Discipline, Emotional Strength, Experience, Respect, People Skills, and Momentum & Timing. Read the article in it's entirety here.
Do you possess any of these signs in your leadership? Are there other signs that you would add to the list?
Soon! Soon! Soon!
Great news for those of you looking to put practical, easy-to-use student leadership training in the hands of your students. I've recently re-written and re-formatted the Studentlinc Core Leadership Training into an actual book!
The lessons are currently available as a PDF download. But this new format will make it easier for you to work through the lessons with your students. The lessons have also been edited to speak directly to student leaders instead of those who work with student leaders.
The other exciting news is that these books will be made available at a lower cost than the current PDF download. I want to make it easier for you to get as many copies as you need for each of your student leaders. Imagine putting a resource in their hand that you can work through with them for an entire student leadership year.
Stay tuned for more information within the next week about how you can order this resource for your own student leadership development program.
When I got married, something crazy happened.
All of the ways I was relationally-challenged (self-esteem, anger, critical, selfish, etc) became obvious.
I had done such a good job of being on my best behavior during the dating phase of my relationship. It wasn't that I was trying to be inauthentic or be someone I wasn't. It's just that after a period of time, when you let your natural self come through, you start to show the cracks in your own cement.
Marriage exposed my weaknesses in relationships because it was the most intense of all relationships.
I think the same is true when you and I aspire to be a leader. When we campaign or interview or step through the hoops to serve in a leadership position, we tend to try and show what's great about us. We demonstrate how our strengths will be an asset and our weaknesses are actually thinly-veiled strengths that we simply haven't tapped into properly (example: I'm inpatient because I want the team to always strive for excellence).
I went to see my daughter perform in the musical, Jungle Book, over the weekend.
Of course I'm so proud of her. She is typically quite shy and not comfortable on a stage. Yet there she was, dancing, singing, even saying a line or two. It was a fun performance.
As I looked around there was one person who was visibly absent - the director.
I kept looking around during the first half-hour of the show trying to spot him in the crowd or at the sound booth. Didn't see him anywhere.
I finally spotted him way back in the corner of the auditorium. He was sitting there enjoying the show along with everyone else. I thought to myself, "He must have a lot of confidence in the kids and the crew backstage to simply be sitting in the back as a spectator."
What happens when people say “The boss is coming!”? Usually, employees stop doing what they are doing and start working. They are nervous when the boss is around. They aren’t themselves. Employees act differently when they are in the presence of their superior.
