on leadership

as of writing this, i am in my first week of my first semester as the president of the aztec ai club, chairman of ctrl, teacher's assistant for an upper-division algorithms course, and, of course, a full-time undergraduate student.

of course, much work has been done over summer leading up to this week, but it's time to see what our planning has accomplished.

the hard questions

what makes a good leader? am i a good leader? can i be a good leader?

these are questions i was asking myself before i even decided to run for president of the aztec ai club. in this, i found myself asking a far more relevant question: if not me, then who?

if not me, then who?

on the way to where i am now, i've met people who've arrived at leadership roles for wildly different reasons. some people step up because of a drive to lead, some out of ambition, some out of curiosity, and some just because nobody else will.

interestingly, however, i've learned that the reason doesn't matter. what matters is your ability to adapt to the role you've landed yourself in, and get to work.

it should naturally follow then, that, assuming you believe you have the ability to adapt (or the ability to learn), you might as well step up and get involved; it's all the same in the end.

how2lead

first, recognize that leadership is more than a title; it's a responsibility. a leader isn't someone who makes every decision, it's someone who makes sure every decision is made with some forethought. additionally, learning that listening is not a passive act, but rather one of the most important roles a leader has is an important lesson to learn early.

leadership is about prioritizing the success of others. if a person is the average of those who they spend the most time with, your time is best spent ensuring the growth of your peers, lest your own growth become stagnant.

leadership doesn't mean neglecting yourself, though. it means learning how to integrate your self into your role. something i've found is that when an officer of mine is energized by an accomplishment we've made, i feel the energy myself. this has pushed leadership far from being draining, but rather something that lifts me up to be better every day.

as i continue to grow into these roles, i know i'll continue to ask myself the hard questions. perhaps this is the way to great leadership.