The Georgia Tech Leadership Education and Development Office was recently able to send one promising Georgia Tech student, Mahdi Al Husseini, to the fifth annual McDonald Conference for Leaders of Character (MCLC). The conference took place March 30th – April 2nd and is hosted yearly by the United States Military Academy, known colloquially as West Point. Al Husseini is an undergraduate student preparing for his last year at Georgia Tech. He is double majoring in Biomedical Engineering and Public Policy, with a Minor in Leadership Studies. As a student of three different Tech colleges– the College of Engineering, the College of Liberal Arts, and the College of Business – he is “always flying from place to place” across campus but loves the different perspectives offered by his distinct courses, he says.
Al Husseini hopes to be flying in more ways than one. He is actively involved in Army ROTC; after graduation Al Husseini will be commissioned to the U.S. Army in an officer position as a second lieutenant. He hopes to be placed on active duty as a Blackhawk pilot, “which specifically means that I will be focusing on aeromedical evacuations, meaning that if someone is injured on the battlefield, it’s my job to go out there with a helicopter and man a crew which will essentially take care of that person and pull them to a nearby hospital for further treatment,” he explains.
This year’s conference theme was “Opposition and Innovation: Taking Risks to Lead Change”. The MCLC bills itself as “the premier transformative, short duration leadership experience for young, emerging global leaders who unite with world leaders in an enduring partnership.” It featured participants from 21 universities and 16 countries. The participants will stay in touch as they work together to write online editorial pieces for the New York Times exploring this year’s MCLC topics in more depth.
Al Husseini had two reasons behind his application to attend. “I wanted to see West Point,” he jokingly admits, but his more pressing motivation was the opportunity to delve into the conference’s main subject of prudent risk. “The idea of prudent risk is the concept that we all have to gamble with uncertainty and we have to make informed decisions at the same time, and being able to do that in an environment that is contested or polarized, being able to navigate those waters and have those conversations, is incredibly important.”
The conference tackled risk from three different angles – ethics, expression, and structure – with breakout groups and interactive discussions following each panel talk. A variety of distinguished senior fellows and guest speakers were present at the conference, with diverse backgrounds ranging from CEOs to university presidents to military and political leaders. Al Husseini’s favorite speaker was Sir John Hood – “literally the guy’s a knight, how crazy is that” – who previously served as the Vice Chancellor of Oxford University.
Sir Hood spoke about risk as it relates to structure, and the unique challenges he faced when trying to implement organizational change in such a long-standing institution. Al Husseini found the navigation of those risks and difficulties particularly compelling. “It’s an interesting idea, tradition versus progress, and of course they should be working together but in a sense it can seem like a zero-sum game” where one is constantly at odds with the other, says Al Husseini. “There’s a lot of value to tradition, but at the same time we have to be able to adapt to the world around us.”
One of Al Husseini’s biggest takeaways from the conference is the importance of having respectful conversations about tough topics to enact change. “How can we encourage conversation and understand and respect the minority in terms of a decision that can oftentimes be polarizing, and how can you continue to progress and innovate when there are so many obstacles in terms of the atmosphere?” He asks. “All those small pieces and smaller ideas, some regarding risk, some regarding innovation, some regarding ethics, some regarding intention - they come together and start popping up in what we do every day.”
We all deal with risk in our day-to-day lives. “Risk could be anything from is this an individual I want to have a conversation with, is this something that could have an impact on my future career,” Al Husseini describes. For him personally, prudent risk will be especially relevant after graduation, when he’ll take part in leading people into battle to accomplish high-stakes missions. “There are lives on the line,” he puts it bluntly. “For me, to be better able to understand those risks and how to take those risks and the mentality that one should have regardless of the type of risk, I think it will have a very direct impact on my time on active duty.”
For more information about MCLC
]]>Each week in April, we will publish more stories about our autism-related work.
1. Where are you this summer and what are you doing (ex: studying abroad, internship, teaching, summer classes, FASET leader, etc)? Please describe your context and why you chose this path for the summer.
This summer, I am helping coach undergraduate research assistants in a Psychology and Neuroscience research lab on campus. We, along with Dr. Paul Verhaeghen, are researching how memory changes with healthy aging. We study changes brain waves and behaviors of younger (18-30 year olds) and older (60-80 year olds) adults as they participate in learning and memory tasks in the laboratory. In a few years, I see myself establishing my own lab in an academic setting. This experience gives me the skills and tools I need to be successful in my future career.
2. What are some ways that leadership plays a role in what you are doing this summer?
Leadership is key to what I am doing this summer. I have to make sure that the undergraduate research assistants have a role model for day-to-day behavior in a work setting. I also strive to create an open environment where the student researchers have an academically rich summer experience. Our three goals are 1) acquiring new skills, such as working on electrophysiology data, statistical analysis, and designing research experiments, 2) gaining an insight into how a research project develops from inception of an idea to writing up the results, and 3) growing as an effective, contributing, and well-adjusted team member within a research organization.
3. In what way are you/were you involved with Georgia Tech Leadership Education and Development (LEAD)? And how has your LEAD involvement helped you with your summer leadership experience? In other words, were there valuable insights gained or lessons learned from your LEAD involvement that have been useful to you this summer?
I was a team coach last academic year within Leading Edge. Two key things that I took away from that experience and apply every day are 1) learning how any organization we lead is a reflection of the leader (e.g., I cannot expect student researchers to meet deadlines if I don't meet them) and 2) to be an effective leader, I have to be a good follower (e.g., when a student is excited about a project, and has an idea, it is extremely important to listen and follow along, and make room for him to lead the conversation).
4. What has been the most rewarding part of your summer? What has been the most challenging?
The most rewarding part of my summer has been working with a team of bright, talented undergraduate researchers and watching them become more advanced scientists in comparison to where they started at the beginning of summer. The most challenging part has been making sure that every student researcher, in spite of their diverse interests and skill levels, do not develop and settle into a hierarchical organizational structure within our subgroup.
5. What do you know now that you didn’t know before you ventured into your summer leadership experience?
Simply put, I did not know that being a good leader in a group can impact productivity and positivity in a manner I have seen this summer. I had always heard about it, but it has been really cool to see and experience how striving to be a good leader can impact my workplace positively!
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1. Where are you this summer and what are you doing (ex: studying abroad, internship, teaching, summer classes, FASET leader, etc.)? Please describe your context and why you chose this path for the summer.
I am in Atlanta working as a Maverick at University House Midtown, which is a new off-campus apartment building. While the building is being built, the Maverick team is tying up loose ends. We are making sure all the information for the incoming residents is properly processed. We also have started planning events designed to foster a sense of community in the new building.
2. What are some ways that leadership plays a role in what you are doing this summer?
Our Maverick team consists of four people, who were chosen based on their different leadership styles. We have over 700 new residents that we are planning events for, which is a huge responsibility given the ratio. We serve as the liaison between the residents and corporate. We also have the responsibility of going out to the community to get sponsorships from businesses to make our events even better.
3. In what way are you/were you involved with LEAD? And how has your LEAD involvement helped you with your summer leadership experience? In other words, were there valuable insights gained or lessons learned from your LEAD involvement that has been useful to you this summer?
I was a coachee in the Leading Edge Program. I have been using some of the leadership tips I got from the Leading Edge program in communicating my ideas with the other Mavericks and being receptive to their ideas. I learned that I can't always make everyone happy, and I am seeing that as we are trying to plan events for the first week of move-in. A large group of our students living in the apartment building is going to have recruitment that week, so even though it'd be ideal to postpone the awesome events we have planned for welcome week to the following week where everyone can participate, I know that we need to plan the events for those who will be there. We are going to be adaptable.
4. What has been the most rewarding part of your summer? What has been the most challenging?
The most rewarding part of my summer has been getting to know the other Mavericks. There is never a dull moment in the office. I have also enjoyed getting to see the building get finished step by step. The most challenging part of my summer has been dealing with construction issues, time delays, and streamlining resident processes.
5. What do you know now that you didn’t know before you ventured into your summer leadership experience?
I've learned that being successful in leadership requires being resilient to the ever-changing circumstances and the ability to effectively interact with different types of people.
]]>The Leadership Education and Development Office sent two of its students to the 32nd Annual West Point Class of 1970 National Conference on Ethics in America (NCEA) this past month. The by-invitation-only conference, which brought together 225 participants from 52 universities across the U.S., was a two-day event hosted by the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. Undergraduate students Joshua Santillo, a 2nd year Computer Science major, and Thomas Ross, a 4th year Industrial Engineering major, represented Georgia Tech.
This year’s NCEA focused on the theme “Selflessness: Building Unity Through Service”. The conference featured a variety of speakers whose work heavily focuses on servant leadership and applying ethical principles to business. Multiple panels and break-out groups encouraged more active discussions among the conference attendees on how to develop and cultivate a greater commitment to servant leadership. “‘Selflessness through service’ has always been a theme in my religion and is one of my top values,” Ross says. “It was really inspiring to see so many people at the conference dedicated to that and showing that it is possible to live that on a big scale.”
Santillo was impressed by the many sacrifices the speakers made to make their visions a reality, as well as the reach their projects have had in their communities. He saw a connection between the conference’s message and his involvement in the Grand Challenges program, where his team is working to reduce food waste at the source. “I think the biggest takeaway for me is that the small impacts that you make do have an effect on people, a ripple effect,” he says. “If I can make people think about food waste on Georgia Tech’s campus, and then they bring that to their friends, and all of those people bring that to their homes and families, that’s a big impact.”
Both Santillo and Ross’s favorite speaker was Rajiv Vinnakota, the co-founder and former CEO of the SEED Foundation. The SEED foundation is the first-of-its-kind nonprofit organization that provides public, college-preparatory boarding schools to students from low-income households to change the trajectory of their lives. And it works - according to the Foundation, first-generation college students with a SEED education graduate at a rate nearly four times higher than students from comparable backgrounds. Ross was particularly impressed by how Vinnakota “really drove home the fact that you can still be a servant leader in a business setting, making decisions that are good for the business but also ethical, and striking that balance in a really clear way.”
What lessons stood out? For Ross, it was the relationship between ethics, leadership, and trust because “if you’re not ethical, people will realize you don’t care about them and it ruins the trust, which is foundational to any leadership and team situation.” Being “outspoken” about ethics is equally important, Ross says. “You can do the right thing yourself but if you’re not encouraging others to the right thing that’s when you know that you’re not taking the next step and bringing it to the next level,” which he adds can definitely be done “in a non-confrontational way”. Santillo agrees. “I definitely believe in servant leadership and to me that means doing right by your team and giving back. A failure in a lot of processes is when there’s no trust between team members.”
For more information about the NCEA conference
For more information about growing your leadership skills at Georgia Tech
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Leading Edge is Georgia Tech’s premier one-on-one leadership development coaching program. Sponsored by the Division of Student Life’s Leadership Education and Development (LEAD) office, the growing program has played an instrumental role in participants’ lives. All Georgia Tech students are welcome to apply for one-one-one leadership coaching. The program stresses the adage that anyone can be a leader, regardless of role or formal position.
Students meet with a trained graduate student, faculty, or staff coach during hour-long sessions five-six times a semester for a transformative growth experience. It’s a small commitment of time that produces large results. Self-assessments, outside feedback, and individually-tailored experiments combine to create an environment of constant learning and challenge. Leading Edge pulls participants and coaches from across the entire campus community, providing a unique forum for new connections and insights.
Anthony Remensnyder, 4th Year Business Administration Student, had such a powerful and positive experience as a coachee with the program that he went on to join the LEAD Recruitment Team. Leading Edge taught him how “to consistently take a step back and look at situations holistically” and grow “in areas where I thought I’d always stay the same.”
Maggie Howell, 4th Year BME Student and Spring 2016 participant, concurs. “Leading Edge has given me a fantastic coach and connection, renewed confidence in the skills I am honing, and a fresh perspective on leadership and its effects,” she says. Howell especially appreciated these attributes when she served in her most impactful leadership role yet as President of her sorority, Alpha Gamma Delta. “I now understand better how to experiment with my leadership style, and have been able to serve as a coach to others I lead in my respective field of influence,” she says.
They are far from the only students who appreciate the fresh approach Leading Edge provides. As Manasi Deshpande, 3rd Year BME Student and Spring 2016 participant, worked with her coach, she “learned how to foster collaboration, camaraderie, and most importantly, trust” within a team in one of her courses that semester. “Leading Edge has catalyzed my journey at Tech, by giving me the confidence, courage and conviction to handle any situation that could be thrown at me,” she says.
The benefits of the coaching program spill over to the coaches themselves, who gain perspective on their own leadership styles and problem-solving approaches. Maggie Miller, International Education Manager in Tech’s Office of International Education and AY15-17 Leadership Fellow, agrees. “I loved seeing the growth of my coachees; watching them gain confidence through carrying out their leadership experiments was so rewarding and inspiring.” She particularly enjoys the opportunity to work directly with students, a contrast from her experience in a highly administrative role.
Michelle Cohen Segall, AY14-17 Leadership Fellow, found her coaching experience similarly worthwhile. “My sessions with coachees are extremely rewarding in that every time we meet, I am able to share in their accomplishments as leaders. Witnessing students’ personal growth and enhanced self-awareness is a unique opportunity and has given me great appreciation for the Leading Edge program and my involvement. Leadership is typically seen as positional; this program has shown me that I can be a leader regardless of my position in an organization.”
Fourth year PhD Student and AY15-16 Leadership Fellow Federico Pulvirenti loves coaching not only because of the chance “to make a significant contribution in the lives of my coachees” but also because of how it has helped him better understand himself. “Coaching has taught me how to me more organized and how to view problems from a lot of different perspectives. I learned how to let a person open up and actively reflect on his or her potential by asking powerful questions, that stimulate but do not intimidate. I find myself capable of understanding and managing diversity better,” he says of his involvement in the program.
Leading Edge recruits undergraduate and graduate coachees every semester, and graduate, faculty, and staff coaches in March for the upcoming academic year. For more information, visit http://leadership.gatech.edu/content/one-one-leadership-coaching-gt-students.
]]>Anthony is a third-year Business Administration student, with involvement in a host of different campus activities and organizations. As his responsibilities in school and in his personal life steadily grew, Anthony found himself yearning for a way in which he could further develop his leadership skillsets and his approach to leading. The way he puts it is, “The problem that arose is that I started to approach these opportunities to lead others the same way I had approached it all my life – I had not changed or grown at all.” Around this same time, a professor had recommended him for Leading Edge, to which he duly applied and was accepted for the following semester.
At the beginning of the 2015 spring semester, Anthony was paired with Leading Edge coach (and health educator at Stamps Health Center) Michelle Segall. Throughout the semester, Anthony and Michelle met and discussed how Anthony could become a stronger leader by identifying the areas Anthony sought to improve and then brainstorming “leadership experiments” to work on these areas within his existing leadership positions as a soccer coach, a soccer referee, and a friend. One tool that has proven to be extremely useful is a journal that Anthony spends 30 minutes a week recording three specific leadership experiences from that week; this practice of self-reflection has helped him to better respond to different situations he confronts throughout his life.
Overall, this process of self assessment, determination of action steps, experimentation and critical reflection with his coach has allowed Anthony to reflect on his past leadership experiences and gain a greater awareness of his behavior. Through the leadership coaching process, Anthony found that an essential part of becoming a more effective leader was better understanding himself, saying “Not only could [Michelle] help me dissect situations and see what I could improve on for the better, but she also helped me better understand myself and how I emotionally respond to different situations.” As Anthony’s coach, Michelle also noticed this transformation, saying, “Anthony recognized even more of his strengths, including his authenticity, his ability to build rapport and develop relationships with others, and his ability to serve as an authority.”
In building this self-awareness in Anthony and other Georgia Tech students, Leading Edge aims to enable students to lead with confidence and purpose. As they continue their journey at Tech and beyond, we look forward to the exceptional leadership they will provide and the role Leading Edge takes in growing them.
Leading Edge is currently accepting applications for the 2016 Spring Semester. Deadline to apply is Wednesday, November 18th at 11:59pm. Request for a deadline extension until Friday, November 20th - email leadingedge@gatech.edu.
For more information visit leadership.gatech.edu
]]>1. What was the most significant thing you gained from being a Leading Edge coachee?
The most significant thing I gained from being a Leading Edge coachee was an understanding of accountability. My coach taught me that it was not only important to be accountable in my actions, but also in the claims I made and the charges I would give myself. I learned to develop accountability with myself, my friends, and the organizations that I was leading – it was a skill that profoundly helped me develop personally, academically, and professionally.
2. What made you want to be a Leading Edge coach/what about being a coach do you look forward to?
I wanted to be a Leading Edge coach because I benefitted so much from the experience as a student – I wanted to have the opportunity to “Pay it Forward” to a future group of undergraduate students. I am most looking forward to helping a student develop an individualized toolbox to become a more effective leader in his/her personal walk. I am excited for the challenges I know being a coach will bring and the way I will continue to learn from coachees, other coaches, and the Leading Edge staff.
Leading Edge is incredibly lucky to have Marnie as a staff coach this coming year, and we look forward to all of the great work she will do with the undergraduate students at Tech!
For more information regarding the Leading Edge program visit leadership.gatech.edu
The MCLC strives to create a space for a diverse group of undergraduate student leaders to “participate in team-based, experiential and analytical exercise that bolsters leadership skills, fosters critical thinking and collaboration, and develops potential strategies for addressing pressing global issues.” This year, students and fellows engaged in hard and meaningful conversations surrounding the topic, “From Failure to Inspiration and Change.”
“I went into [the conference] wanting to be impacted in a lasting way, to network, and be truly inspired,” Janvi recalled. MCLC did just that, pushing Janvi to reflect deeply about the moments of failure in her life and at Georgia Tech while prompting her to further examine her leadership from a different perspective. As improving and growing leaders, it is common to look back on failure and try to apply the lessons that were created from it, but Janvi now sees it as so much more. Through her participation in MCLC she now sees failure as a muscle that needs to be worked. Like the skeletal muscles in our bodies that tear and repair as they grow and improve, “improving leaders exercise the failure muscle every single day, purposefully, intentionally, and the more you work it, the better you will get at combating bigger failures.” Juan was inspired by this analogy as well, commenting, “If you take on one big risk without any preparation you will be scared and you will likely not be able to handle that risk; but, if you purposefully make the point to get outside of your comfort zone every day, then you’re going to be better at battling risk when it really counts.”
Juan and Janvi had many insights and revelations throughout their time at MCLC. Their best advice to someone who wants to improve as a leader? Start now. “You do not have to go to this conference or take a class to start. Leadership is a life-long process.” Janvi advises.
The senior fellows who were CEOs, members of the US Cabinet, and heads of NGOs, went through “long crazy life adventures that got them to where they are right now. They’ve all had points of adversity and maybe things that changed their lives.” Juan recalls Senior Fellow Ray Jefferson saying to him, “The death of a dream can be the birth of a destiny.” Juan urges aspiring leaders to enter uncomfortable spaces and realize that they are actually places of growth. In the future, you will remember this step as a decision that led you to changes in your life.
The feelings of connection and togetherness paired with stories of inspiration prompted Juan and Janvi to think about how they were going to apply what they learned. They both agree that MCLC gave them tools to use in their personal and academic lives, but more importantly it gave them a more well-rounded perspective and a different mindset. The idea of giving 100% made the biggest impact. Dr. Daniel Polisar, a senior fellow at the conference said, “Failure is not only wrong action, but also inaction. Failure can be not doing something that you had the opportunity to do and giving your 100%.” Janvi reflected on the times when she was presented with a failing circumstance in her life and at Georgia Tech. “When you don’t give your 100% then you have a regret - a disappointment - you’ve failed. If I want to live a life with no regrets then I need to, have to give my 100%.” Juan hopes to bring back what he learned at MCLC to his organizations on campus. He specifically wants to take one exercise back to his SHEP executive board: the life journey road map. In this exercise each member of the team maps out their life on a chart with the x-axis labeled “time” and the y-axis labeled “emotions.” Then they chart point by point - talking about low points, transitions, and the incredible moments. According to Juan, the real beauty was hearing everyone talk through everything in his or her life journey and witnessing vulnerability amongst participants.
To lead and impact others, you have to be doing something that serves others and that impacts social change. “Find out what you are fighting for and do it with integrity, honesty, and selflessness. Be a leader of character, not of position,” Janvi advocates. Juan adds, “The organization can be succeeding while the mission is failing. You can be succeeding in a position, while your mission and your passion is failing. If that is so, change it and keep pressing on.”
More information about the 2017 MCLC Conference
]]>Federico Pulvirenti received the Graduate Student Excellence Award for Leadership and Service. This award is designed to honor a graduate student Leadership Fellow who goes beyond the role of a Leadership Coach and has a true passion for developing others. Federico is in his 4th year of a PhD in Chemistry and serves as one of our leadership coaches in the Leading Edge program. Within this role he shows deep-rooted passion and commitment to developing others. While Federico has a unique ability to motivate and mobilize his coachees to make meaningful change, he also does this for himself. He has grown as a coach and a leader over him time with LEAD. He inspires his coachees and everyone else around him to be a better person and does not hesitate to encourage others to think through challenges, see situations more strategically, and transcend their limitations.
Hannah Chen received the Emerging Student Leader Award. This award is designed to honor an undergraduate student who is involved with LEAD and has shown exceptional development and possesses a strong desire to learn and apply their leadership abilities. Hannah is a 3rd year Industrial Engineering student and is highly involved in LEAD as a Grand Challenges, Leading Edge student and an active participant in the LEAD Recruitment Team. In the time that Hannah has been at Georgia Tech, she has actively sought out ways to step out of her comfort zone and reflect deeply about her actions through her leadership experiences. She actively encourages and inspires other undergraduate students to grow their leadership. Hannah helps students balance their lives and empowers them to manage their time effectively through her Grand Challenges project, Adaptatime. She also works hard to inspire, advance and achieve the goals of the Society of Women Engineers. Hannah does all of this and more with humility and authenticity. She is not afraid to fail and continues to grow from each and every experience.
Thank you, Hannah and Federico, for all of your hard work and dedication to growing student leadership capacity here at Georgia Tech.
]]>The event kicked off with opening remarks about Leading Edge’s impact on the institute from John Stein, Vice President for Student Life and Dean of Students, then was followed by personal testimonies and words of thanks from coachees in this year’s cohort of Leading Edge students. Prachi Kulkarni, a fourth year Computer Engineering student who participated in Leading Edge spoke at the luncheon, recounting her journey with her leadership coach, Brandy Blake. She described her experience, saying “Brandy really pushed me to think out of the box and think for myself rather than just spoon feeding me. Through the experiments that she helped me design for myself, I was able to work on my weaknesses and improve on my strengths and emerge as a better leader. The organization that I’m President for is actually winning a nation-wide award this year and I don’t think that would have been possible if it wasn’t for Brandy.”
However, with Leading Edge, the personal growth does not stop at the student being coached. The process of coaching undergraduate students and serving as their guides for exploring their leadership potential has meaningful benefits for the leadership coaches too. According to Leadership Fellow and third-year PhD student in the Chemistry program Frederico Pulvirenti, “Coaching has taught me how to be more organized and how to view problems from a lot of different perspectives. I learned how to let a person open up and actively reflect on his or her potential by asking powerful questions, that stimulate but do not intimidate. I find myself capable of understanding and managing diversity better.”
In addition to growing coaches’ self-awareness, the act of engaging with students on a deeper interpersonal level through coaching has proved to be rewarding in a number of other ways. Maggie Miller, an International Education Manager in Georgia Tech’s Office of International Education, who served as a Leadership Fellow this year commends Leading Edge for giving her the opportunity to connect with undergraduate students. “My position is highly administrative, and I don’t work directly with students. I loved seeing the growth of my coachees; watching them gain confidence through carrying out their leadership experiments was so rewarding and inspiring.”
The major impact that Leading Edge has had on this year’s coaches is validated by the number that have volunteered to return to the program next year. 26 (or over half) of this year’s Leadership Fellows will continue coaching students over the 2016-2017 school year. The program has also attracted 44 new coaches (the greatest number of coaches Leading Edge has ever had), comprised of engaged graduate students, faculty, and staff from a diversity of programs and departments across the Georgia Tech community. So although another year is coming to a close, we look forward to next year and continuing to grow leadership at Georgia Tech.
Read more about the Leadership Fellows program
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“It changed my life” is a phrase that is thrown around a lot to describe how an experience impacted an individual. At times this phrase is overused, or used dramatically. I assure you that the narrative that follows describes an experience that did indeed “change my life.” Those closest to me will tell you that I don’t sugarcoat nor do I blow things out of proportion- I simply tell things as they are.
Towards the end of 2015 Spring Semester, I realized I needed something different. I had been living life the same way each and every day. I was given more responsibilities in school and in my personal life that required that I lead others. The problem that arose is that I started to approach these opportunities to lead others the same way I had approached it all my life- I had not changed or grown at all. As I took on more challenging roles and responsibilities, I needed to find a way to further develop my skillsets and approach to each and every future experience. Around this time, my favorite professor recommended me to the Leading Edge (One-on-One Leadership Coaching) program, a program offered to all Georgia Tech students by the Leadership Education and Development Office at GT. Instantly, I gained a new level of introspection solely from the filling out the application for the program. It allowed me take a deep breathe and analyze my experiences thus far in my life and at GT- it’s rare to take time to hit the pause button and sit back and breathe at this Institution. But because of that very fact, I knew this program was what I had been seeking.
Over the course of this semester, I have been able to consistently take a step back and look at situations holistically. I have grown in areas where I thought I’d always stay the same, where I was too afraid to break down walls that had taken years to construct. Although I had always been self-analytical, I never truly developed action items that would help me develop and grow. Like I mentioned, I needed something different before this program, I had an itch to grow and expand upon my potential. When I started in the program, I found infinite amount of areas where I could grow, and I developed plans to do so indeed.
I can attribute all of this to my coach. I was paired with an amazing leader who could not only help me dissect situations and see what I could improve on for the better, she helped me better understand myself and how I emotionally respond to different situations- this has always been my greatest strength and biggest weakness. I was paired with the perfect coach who helped me develop tools to face so many challenges that arise in the life of a leader. Most notably, I developed a journal, where each week, I spend 30 minutes reflecting on 3 specific leadership experiences from that week. There are a number of steps I take to do this, but the end result and analysis has proven to help me respond to different situations better. I will without a doubt use this tool for the rest of my life.
The Leading Edge program has allowed me to see parts of myself I never even knew existed, it has challenged me everyday. It really has “changed my life.” The Leading Edge (One-on-One Leadership Coaching) program gave me an opportunity that transformed my college experience, an opportunity that I charge every GT student to explore.
Sincerely,
Anthony Remensnyder, 3rd Year Business Administration Student
]]>For those who seek the opportunity to work in teams to address real world environmental problems and engage with international communities, there is no better course than this one. The course provides a unique, interdisciplinary project-based experience for undergraduates to address critical problems in environmental health. However, anyone who has taken the course will tell you that it is no easy ride. Between working closely with others in teams, the trial-and-error nature of applied problem solving, and trying to understand a different community and culture, challenging moments are inevitable. Yet, it is within these challenging moments that students are really given the opportunity to exercise leadership.
Last spring, the class split into two groups that focused on environmental health issues in Bolivia. One examined air quality and personal exposure to different types of air pollutants emitted by various forms of transportation, and the other studied the safety of drinking water and the accuracy of affordable water quality test kits. While there was no formal leadership development component built into the course, students often found themselves confronting situations that required them to step up to in order to move the project forward. Whether it was recognizing when to follow or taking the lead on unglamorous work such as spreadsheets, the organic way in which the students took responsibility when needed and exercised leadership without being directed was something that struck instructor Dr. Brown throughout the course.
In a recent interview, he recounted this observation, saying “One of things that impressed me about this class is that when there was something that needed to get done, there was always someone who stepped forward and said, ‘I will do that.’ Somehow everything gets done and there is a shared responsibility in completing the tasks and the projects.” He also notes, however, that the teams also went through “periods of crisis” where either a member wasn’t pulling his or her weight or the team was split on how they wanted to move forward. According to Dr. Brown, what was critical in enabling the teams to overcome these periods was keeping in mind the greater good of the project and the communities for which they were working.
Rebecca Yoo, a fourth-year Civil Engineering student, can attest to the leadership development that occurs throughout the course. Rebecca was enrolled in the course in Spring 2015 and joined the water quality group, which tested the accuracy of low-cost, easy to use water quality test kits in order to determine an affordable way for communities to ensure the safety of their drinking water. Part of the course included traveling to Bolivia to collect and test samples of water. Having to understand and work with different personalities, cultural backgrounds, and ways of communicating was both a challenging yet invaluable experience for Rebecca. Collaborating with group members under these conditions and developing a sense of when to step up or when to step down and let someone else take the lead was “a humbling way to learn to be a leader.”
This course is just one example of how leadership development is constantly occurring at Georgia Tech. Georgia Tech is an environment rich with leaders, and in every building, classroom, office, and lab, one will find passionate individuals working with other passionate individuals to positively impact the world around them.
To find out more about this course and its part in the Global Engineering track of the Minor in Leadership Studies, visit http://ce.gatech.edu/academics/undergraduate/leadership-minor.
]]>Chris’s unique take on leadership is reflected throughout his work and helps to explain how he’s been able to effectively fill so many roles at Georgia Tech. He considers his personal leadership style to be compassionate, inclusive, and collaborative, stating, “The most important thing to me is getting to know those around me – colleagues, students, external partners – and contributing to their success. That’s the absolute best feeling in the world and most important leadership trait. If you have the ability to help others and you don’t do it, then you’re not leading.” But he also places emphasis on accountability, understanding that his success relies on people believing that he is reliable and can help them achieve their desired outcomes.
One major life experience that well prepared Chris to lead was growing up in a single parent household where he was largely responsible for taking care of himself, which also meant making more of his own mistakes, as well as accepting responsibility and learning from them. The old adage that one learns more from failure than success has always rung true for Chris. Being able to recognize that it is okay to fail sometimes and seek advice has given him a healthy sense of humility, which has ultimately enabled him to be a thoughtful and compassionate leader.
What is his advice to undergraduate students who want to become effective leaders? “You first have to understand what motivates you. You have to have compassion and a strong desire to help others first. Be honest, be thoughtful, and find happiness in the success of those around you. Everyone has the ability to lead and inspire.”
]]>After being accepted in Spring 2015, Hannah was paired with City and Regional Planning PhD student and Leading Edge coach Camille Barchers. Throughout the semester, Hannah and Camille would meet every other week in Clough to discuss Hannah’s competencies outlined by the 360 Assessment (a leadership assessment completed by all Leading Edge coachees at the beginning of the semester). Unlike a mentor providing advice, Camille would ask follow-up questions to help Hannah think deeper about her actions throughout her leadership experiences, which would in turn help to build her self awareness.
In recalling the most significant thing she took away from Leading Edge, Hannah points to the importance of feedback. “It is very comforting to hear positive feedback about yourself, but after [Leading Edge], I now take the initiative to hear negative feedback about myself so I can improve on what I'm doing,” says Hannah. After doing a project or hosting an event, Hannah will send out anonymous surveys to find out where she excelled as well as where she could improve.
Additionally, Hannah began to see how leadership came into play outside of formal roles and positions in how she interacted with people in her daily life. A helpful acronym she learned through Leading Edge, RASA (Receive, Appreciate, Summarize, Ask), proved to be a powerful tool for creating meaningful conversations whether it was with friends and family or during an interview.
Having been through the Leading Edge program, Hannah now serves as a member of the Leading Edge Recruitment Team, sharing her experience and encouraging Georgia Tech undergraduates to develop their leadership skills through LEAD’s programs.
If you’re interested in applying for the Spring 2016 semester of Leading Edge, you can find more information here.
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Peter Swanson got involved in the GT LEAD community through his service as a Leadership Fellow (Coach) for the Leading Edge program over the 2014-2015 school year, as he completed the masters program in Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE). This summer, he is serving as a student leadership facilitator for La Vid (a Christian student group at Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic) where he has been helping a group of students learn how to lead their group and grow in their career, faith, and responsibility. We were curious to know more about his experience in the Dominican Republic, and here is what he told us:
1. Where are you this summer and what are you doing (ex: studying abroad, internship, teaching, summer classes, FASET leader, etc)? Please describe your context and why you chose this path for the summer.
I just graduated from the masters program in ECE at GT. I hope to teach Electrical Engineering in a university in the Dominican Republic (DR) as soon as my Spanish is good enough to understand their specific accent here. I am currently working with a group of Christian students in the university in the mean time. My dream is to help people in all sorts of ways whether it’s through education, relief work, or spiritual growth with God. I have been doing volunteer work in the DR for the past four summers and I love the people here. There are so many needs here and the people have such great hearts, so I wanted to do what I can to serve and help here in the DR.
2. What are some ways that leadership plays a role in what you are doing this summer?
One example of the need for leadership is in my friendship with a boy named Manuel. He is 17 and his family didn't have enough money to support him so they kicked him out of the house at a young age. He was homeless when we first met him. Though he is uneducated and looks a little rough, he has a heart of gold. He is always laughing and joking. I have been working with him to learn employable skills and develop life patterns of time and budget organization. I pay him to do random chores for me until he finds a job. He tells me that God has changed his life, and he is so kind and prays for his other friends who are also homeless. We recently found a temporary housing situation for him.
3. In what way are you/were you involved with Georgia Tech Leadership Education and Development (LEAD)? And how has your LEAD involvement helped you with your summer leadership experience? In other words, were there valuable insights gained or lessons learned from your LEAD involvement that has been useful to you this summer?
I was a one-on-one leadership coach this past year. One of the most helpful things that I took from my time in Leading Edge was the ability to teach by asking questions. In the Dominican culture, there are many worldview and cultural differences. I found that when I used a statement-based teaching style there was a lot lost in translation. But using the question-based teaching style that Leading Edge taught us has been incredibly helpful.
4. What has been the most rewarding part of your summer? What has been the most challenging?
The most rewarding moments have been seeing the Dominicans gaining and growing a heart for the helpful people around them: their neighbors, friends, and family. So many of them have told us that growing in their relationship with God has brought unity and love into families that have a lot of brokenness (and still have a lot to healing to do). The most challenging thing to me has been the “catch-22” that I find myself in often. I want to help people financially, but the issue is that when I give out money or food, it often sends a message that American gifts are the solution to their financial problems. Instead of giving gifts of food and money, I have been creating ways to employ some of them (like Manuel).
5. What do you know now that you didn’t know before you ventured into your summer leadership experience?
Before I came, I was worried that I might not fit into this culture very well. I was afraid that I would need to practically become Dominican before I could become effective at helping them. However, I have learned that it’s okay to be my American self. I have been learning from the Dominicans and picking things up from them and they have learned from me also (My Dominican roommate and I were laughing hard one night as we played a funny game of impersonating each other's accent). It’s a beautiful experience of being yourself and walking in someone else's shoes at the same time.
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Alice Francis became a part of the GT LEAD community as a freshman in Grand Challenges in the Fall of 2014. She is going into her second year at Georgia Tech, majoring in mechanical engineering. This summer, Alice is a facilitator for Georgia Tech CEISMC Summer PEAKS camps, which give students in 4th to 12th grade the chance to enhance learning during the summer through experiential activities on Georgia Tech’s campus. PEAKS covers many different Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) concepts. We asked her if she would share a little bit of her summer experiences with us, and this is what she had to say:
1. Where are you this summer and what are you doing (ex: studying abroad, internship, teaching, summer classes, FASET leader, etc)? Please describe your context and why you chose this path for the summer.
I'm working in STEM outreach as a facilitator for the Georgia Tech CEISMC Summer PEAKS camps. I have always had a passion for working with kids, and combining that passion with an enthusiasm for sharing STEM knowledge felt like a rewarding opportunity for the summer.
2. What are some ways that leadership plays a role in what you are doing this summer?
Working with kids takes a special kind of leadership. Children need motivation to listen, and that motivation comes from earning their respect through consistency and fairness.
3. In what way are you/were you involved with Georgia Tech Leadership Education and Development (LEAD)? And how has your LEAD involvement helped you with your summer leadership experience? In other words, were there valuable insights gained or lessons learned from your LEAD involvement that has been useful to you this summer?
I was in the Grand Challenges program, and actually got my summer internship through one of the faculty advisors at a banquet. My experience in Grand Challenges taught me more about myself and the way I work with others, and I use that daily in my interaction with my coworkers and students. Knowing that I am a dominant leader has helped me stay sensitive to the times when I can be overbearing.
4. What has been the most rewarding part of your summer? What has been the most challenging?
The most rewarding part of my summer has been building relationships with my students. Although I only have them for a week at a time, I learn so much about their lives and what they are involved in. Seeing how motivated and driven they are helps me stay excited to learn in college.
5. What do you know now that you didn’t know before you ventured into your summer leadership experience?
I know a lot more about waking up early! I also have learned a lot about how to take a stand as an authority figure, especially when I am challenged by parents. I have had to stand up for myself on occasion this summer and this internship has made me more comfortable with "just saying no" when it is necessary.
]]>At Georgia Tech, we know that leadership is something you “do”! Leading Edge is a program for intentional and focused “doing” of leadership.
“Leading Edge gives students a platform to learn about and practice leadership. Why this program? Because it is intentional. Many of the leadership situations that students find themselves in are hit or miss and often just focused on getting a task accomplished,” Wes Wynens, director of the LEAD Program, said. “Through careful feedback from trained leadership coaches and feedback from faculty and peers, students will gain insight into their leadership competencies and apply new insights to a leadership action plan.”
Students will then use that action plan to identify opportunities to practice what they’ve learned in on- and off- campus leadership roles. “The real magic of the program is that students put their plans into practice through the lens of specific leadership competencies. The leadership coach and the student then talk about the outcomes of the ‘leadership experiment’ and how they can grow their leadership capacity. This creates a double loop between practice and feedback. Through this double loop of learning we can accelerate the leadership development of our students,” Wynens said.
Alexei Nikonovich-Kahn, a fourth-year business administration major in the Denning Technology and Management Program and a returning Leading Edge participant reflected on his experience in one-on-one leadership coaching, stating, “Unlike other programs that teach a philosophy, Leading Edge focuses on reflection and strength building of the individual. Leading Edge is not a simulation, a workshop, or a class. It is a series of coached individuals improving their self awareness and fostering their strengths.”
Dave Anderson, one of Leading Edge’s returning leadership coaches and a mechanical engineering doctoral student, shares similar insights from a coaching perspective, saying “I think it's easy to think of leadership in a more traditional role of a leader as someone who is top-down…but really my job as a leadership coach is to help them come up with insights on their own and maximize their leadership potential.”
How can students participate in Leading Edge?
There are 95 spots available for undergraduates in the Spring 2015 session of Leading Edge. Students interested in applying should be honest, persistent, and dedicated to their own personal development and growth. All applications must be submitted by Monday, November 17, 2014 through the LEAD Program’s website – leadership.gatech.edu.
Please contact Leading Edge Coordinator Stacey Doremus at stacey.doremus@gatech.edu with any questions.
]]>Step 1: 360 Assessment
Before coaching begins, Coachees will be given access to Georgia Tech’s Leadership Development Portal and asked to complete a 360-degree assessment of their leadership skills. Coachees will assess their own leadership abilities and invite as many as 8 of their peers, advisors, supervisors, friends, and coworkers to give them feedback as well. Once the assessment is complete, Coachees will meet with their coach to review their results, identify perception gaps between themselves and their outside raters, and select two competencies that they wish to focus on during the coaching engagement.
Step 2: Determine Action Steps
After a Coachee has determined what leadership competencies he or she would like to focus on, the Coachee will meet with their coach to determine what action steps are necessary to improve their mastery of each competency. Effective action steps are specific and measurable. An example of an effective action step meant to target Collaboration with Others could be to “improve communication within my senior design team by giving every member of the group a chance to speak before making a decision.”
Step 3: Experiment
Once action steps have been successfully identified, Coachees will be encouraged to practice implementing their action steps via leadership experiments. A leadership experiment can be something as simple as volunteering an opinion during a group discussion or something as involved as developing a communication strategy for a group that is susceptible to conflict. The intensity of the experiment is dependent solely on the willingness of the coachee to engage in the exercise. Experimentation provides a controlled learning experience for Coachees that allows them to implement their action steps, gauge the reaction of their followers, and make course corrections based on those reactions.
Step 4: Develop Key Insights
In this step Coaches will assist their Coachees by encouraging them to dive deeper and attempt to understand the root cause of specific reaction or behavior. Once these “key insights” have been developed, Coachees will then be able to harvest the lessons they have learned from a specific experiment and integrate this new understanding into their every-day leadership practices and apply it to future engagements.
Measureable outcomes for leadership coaching for the coachee include:
An important note for students interested in participating in leadership coaching to remember is that the coaching process, much like the process of leadership, is iterative. Coaches and their coaches will complete each of these four steps over and over again as the coachee experiments, develops new insights, and pivots their behavior based on the results of their experiments and each experiment will help the coachee reach their full leadership potential.
]]>Leading Edge Coordinator
]]>Parker Vascik (AE ’14), one of the first students to join the Minor in Leadership Studies, heard about the then-new minor during his sophomore year. Though at the time he was working hard on building his career path in the field of aerospace engineering, he knew immediately that the Minor in Leadership Studies was the supplement to his academic career that would allow him to pursue a vision of “engineering leadership.” In a recent talk, Vascik explained, “I knew from looking at my skills set I was talented in engineering, sciences, and math, so I could be a good engineer. But I was really good at communicating and inspiring other people…the leadership minor was the way I could fuse these two worlds and match my skill set with what I really want to do.”
Parker resonates the sentiments of many students who join the Minor in Leadership Studies and their reasons for venturing outside a student’s typical major coursework. Perhaps the most compelling reason Parker considered was that “if you put a bunch of really intelligent people in one room, you don’t necessarily make the best product. There’s another aspect to it than just a technical solution…it’s really ‘engineering leadership’ that solves that problem of working with these people to overcome their interests in the design as well as other factors that are exogenous to your design problem.” In a world where working in diverse, cross-functional teams is becoming increasingly common, sharpening one’s leadership skills in order to do well in those teams is of great importance.
However, career-minded skills and lessons were not the only things Parker gained through the Minor in Leadership Studies. He was also affected on a more interpersonal level, saying “everybody has a certain way of looking at problems and how to solve those problems…by working with business majors and other engineers that are interested in leadership I really got so many new perspectives, a variety of thought, and a way of seeing problems that was different from the aerospace engineering atmosphere.” Among the Georgia Tech leadership education community, students, faculty and staff agree that this diversified perspective and approach to problem solving is one of the core values in our programs.
Success in Georgia Tech’s leadership programs, such as Parker’s and many others’, have spurred a heightened sense of importance for developing students’ leadership skills, and the compelling gains made by students have made it possible for the school to continue to build upon and improve the quality of our programs. If Parker’s story speaks to you and you are ready to begin your journey in leadership development, we encourage you to apply for the Minor in Leadership Studies today.
Find out more about the Minor in Leadership Studies
Attend an Information Session (registration required)
Tuesday, February 24, 2015 11am-12pm in CULC 125
Friday, February 27, 2015 11am-12pm in CULC 125
]]>Attend an Information Session (registration required)
]]>When she’s not in her office in the Sustainable Education Building or on a run, you might find her in the CULC sitting down for a talk with an undergraduate student around the late afternoon. That’s because Janille is also a leadership coach for the Leading Edge program. In these meetings, or coaching sessions, Janille works with undergraduates throughout the semester to help them realize their personal leadership goals. She guides them through a process of self-discovery by asking them powerful questions and facilitating critical reflection.
Though the job can be rewarding, it’s not always easy. Janille says, “The most difficult part about coaching is working to ensure that you are challenging your coachees. My goal is inspire change in my coachees and this often requires that they become uncomfortable in their leadership journey. Sometimes, when coaching is in progress, it is hard to know whether you have actually helped them get to that point of change.” But Janille’s ability to push past those moments of doubt and stay true to her end goal has paid off. She describes her most fulfilling moments as those in which “your coachees present you with feedback, a revelation, or a reflection demonstrating their awareness that change has happened.”
The Office of Leadership Education and Development would like to invite all GT graduate students, faculty and staff to apply for the 2015-2016 Leadership Fellows program, to serve as a leadership fellow (coach) for the upcoming school year. You will sharpen and enhance your existing leadership and coaching skills by assisting in the development of undergraduates who are also eager to improve their leadership abilities. You will also have the opportunity to learn from your peers at regular training sessions. If you are interested in developing yourself while developing others, then this is an opportunity that you will want to embrace.
Find out more about the Leadership Fellows Program
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Janille is an avid runner. She and 11 other women ran 196 miles from Madison, Wisconsin, to Chicago in the Madison to Chicago Ragnar Relay. She has also participated in the famed Peachtree Road Race and the Divas Half Marathon in Peachtree City.
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