The Student Leader Blog

Topic of the Month: September

Please post your comments to this month's Topic of the Month below. No yelling, please =) 

Are great leaders born or made?

Dude Calm Down

Student leaders are undoubtedly some of the most burnt out people in college. We have far too much to do and not nearly enough time to do it. Between class and homework, a social life, staying in good health, and all our extracurriculars, there just aren't enough hours in the day (or night!) to accomplish what we need to get done every day. This lack of time stresses out even the mentally toughest of us. However, I think it's vitally important to not let that stress get the best of you for several reasons. First, if I weren't so heavily medicated as a result of my wisdom tooth removal surgery Monday, I'd bother finding a study saying stress decreased productivity. Less productivity is exactly what we don't want. Additionally, seeing us stressed out certainly bothers our proteges and underlings, because if the cool, calm, and collected leader is strung out, then something must be terribly wrong. We must find our own ways of calming down and relaxing. Here are some of my favorite methods:

- Deep breaths are always good in a pinch. If you're forced to make a quick decision, a deep breath buys you time and relaxes your muscles and brain or something. When someone comes to you with an issue, that deep breath will relax you, which in turn relaxes whoever has the problem, and you're both better off!

- Listening to music. If you're alone in your room, office, or whatever, I find music to be a great stress reliever, as I'm sure many of you do.

- Staying positive. Just knowing that you'll come out of whatever mess you're in alive is always a comforting thought. You've been through harder times and gotten through them fine. Last week I had finals for my summer quarter. I had to write a 10 page paper by Thursday morning. Tuesday morning I had a final, after which I started writing my paper. It's hard to look at a blank document and know you have to fill up a ton of white space in not a whole lot of time, but looking forward to the feeling of accomplishment you get when you're done is enough motivation to slog through it. For what it's worth, I wrote those ten pages in about six and a half hours, a phenomenal pace by my standards.

- One of my absolute favorite things to do in life is complain. I'm serious! I love finding someone who doesn't mind listening to me blabber on about my worries for five or ten minutes because I always feel a little bit better when I get what's bothering me off my chest. If nothing else, it gets me to realize how silly my troubles are compared to what other people both around me and around the world are going through. Oh no, I have to write one measly paper that I've been putting off for weeks in one day. At least I have a warm bed, fresh water, and a loving family, which is more than a lot of people here on Earth can say. If we have the ability to be student leaders, that means there are probably lots of things going right for us, and we should be grateful.

I have to be missing a ton of good ways to relax. Help me, and other readers, by leaving your suggestions in the comments!

Tania's College Site Picks: Local Travel (hopstop, google transit, ridethecity, and mizpee)

I love websites. I adore web 2.0. And I feel all warm and fuzzy inside whenever I can share a good site I found. Upon people's request, I've emailed them lists of my favorite sites and have been keeping my own list that requires quite a bit of scrolling to get down to the bottom. So this morning, I said to myself, why not share the goods with all of you? I've split up my list into categories, and every week until my list runs out, I'll post a category here. If you have any suggestion please let me know! An infinite list would be nice :)

Today's category is Local Travel:

www.hopstop.com (only available in select cities)

Get public transportation directions and estimated travel times, with delays taken into account. You can also get walking directions, private shuttles and ferries, and estimated cost and time for cab rides. If you're trying to decide which public transportation lines to use or get an apartment near, check out their customer ratings. You can also create an itinerary, save trips, browse the city's attractions, and get it all sent to your cell phone.

www.google.com/transit

Here you can get directions, maps, and schedules, and coverage in nearly all of the United States as well as internationally. You can't get some of the other cool stuff that HopStop offers, but it's just as useful for the basics and is offered in a lot more cities.

www.ridethecity.com

If you're one of the many New Yorkers trading your MetroCard in for a bike, RidetheCity is a perfect way for you to find the fastest and safest routes and to calculate travel times. Unfortunately, it's only available in New York right now.

www.mizpee.com

If your public transportation is anything like New York City's, then finding a decent bathroom in the station is out of the question. MizPee lists public restrooms and user ratings in many states and even in Europe. It even keeps track of whether you need to buy anything at the places listed. You can also search on your phone, save your favorite pee spots, suggest toilets, play toilet trivia, and find deals on everything from cafes to spas.

That's all for now, folks! Hope this has been helpful.

Google up your office.

If you're lucky enough to have an office for your group, get a little Googley and take advantage of the luxury. The way your office looks says a lot about your group and can play a big role in how your group members feel. When I finally got an office for my organization last year it ended up seeing very little action because most people were choosing the cozy, couch-filled room next door over the white walls and high ceilings of our new space. However, we did have one memorable meeting in there when we decided to "spruce" it up with temporary decorations until it was no longer recognizable. Oh, and there was that time that one of the writers of this blog (I won't name names) was thrown into the wall, leaving a very distinguished looking dent in the sheet rock.

Anyway, though I never got to try this to the extreme, I am a big fan of getting everyone involved in creating an identity for the space and getting really creative with it. Cheap sprucers include funky lights, rugs, sheets, pillows, plants, and magazine clippings. My friend works for a company that has a wall full of black and white portrait photos of each employee representing their unique personalities. One room at Hunter had bare, white walls until they had a contest for the best mural and ended up with an 8 foot purple robot painting. Bookcases, couches, water coolers, TVs, computers, chalkboards, corkboards, and minifridges are also nice additions, if you have the budget. Many groups don't realize just how much their schools are willing to fund to promote student engagement and reduce unsightly surpluses (whoops, that last part must have been a typo). For a bit of inspiration, check out Google's idea of a good office environment:

Break Rules At School - I Did, And It Made Me The Leader I Am Today!

    Dealing with the rules and regulations for your club or publication can be a flawed and tedious process, and at times completely asphyxiating to the spirit of your cause. If a student has the will to be a leader, why must the way of execution be so riddled with fine print and miscommunication? At Hunter College, the issue of bureaucracy unfortunately does not end at student activities; merely filing for graduation can be a long and arduous task.  One can imagine how it is for people who request funding for “extra-curricular” activities.
  The flipside of a slow bureaucracy is a lack of oversight and enforcement of policy. During the last Spring 2008 semester, I took advantage of this weakness to create a steady, visual and audible presence within the hallways of my school. The results of the campaign were overwhelmingly positive. Were it not for my disregard of the purported regulations that govern obtaining a permit for tabling, as well as my capacity to guiltlessly deliver a few well-intentioned white lies when necessary, the level of success reached by my publication, Hunter Anonymous, would not have been possible.

  I began my promotions for Hunter Anonymous well before the initial printing. The success of the publication relies solely on the participation of students and faculty at Hunter, so getting off to a strong start was top priority. I had observed, in my previous two years of attendance at Hunter, that many school organizations would set up their signs and posters and flyers and people behind these long tables that were located at major hubs of foot traffic. To do this, I learned that I needed to obtain a tabling permit from the Student Services department of the school. Besides the fact that the person in charge of scheduling and permitting these licenses was stubborn and uncommunicative, the available slots for tables was extremely limited. This came as a bit of a surprise to me. Rarely had I seen all the tables vacated, even during the most heavily trafficked days and times. Wednesday was always a clear slot because there are no classes in the afternoon, so basically a worthless time to be propagandizing anything. When I did in fact get some prime real estate, it was scheduled for at least two weeks in advance.
    I can't recall exactly when I chose to ignore this whole permit process and just plop my butt wherever I felt like, but it certainly wasn't more than a month after the semester began. In addition to handing out flyers urging people to send me their submissions, I would rent out audio equipment under the auspices of the Media Board, and proceed to blast music throughout the hallways of the school. In order to get equipment from the Audio/Visual department, a club needs authorization from the Undergraduate Student Government, as well as a copy of the tabling permit. Fortunately, as a publication and a member of the Media Board, I needed no such authorization past the ink of my own signature. So in my initial attempts at hijacking the A/V department, I would play it cool and tell them "yes, there is Media Board event in the West Building, 3rd floor, from one to three, so I need the biggest amplifier and speaker system you have." (Forgive me, Tania.) Since I was oftentimes confronted by people who had absolutely no idea what the Media Board was, I often had to explain the very nature of it. So my publication acted as sort of a diving board into a deeper conversation that required me to answer many questions past the subject of Hunter Anonymous (which was a hell of a thing to sell to people in the first place), such as - the publications are free, this for Hunter College students only, a portion of your Student Activity fee goes towards this, and yes, even YOU can start your own publication!
    After doing this many, many times throughout the course of the the semester (if there was a "Most Enthusiastic Tabler" award, I would have gotten it), the folks at A/V got to know me well and I became friends with a good portion of them. It was kind of like frequenting your favorite bar and having the tender throw you your favorite drink, without request -  a CD/tape combo, with a big PA speaker, on the rocks.
    (Side note - I believe in the power of music to transform people, regardless of their taste or personal hangups. Music, and good music especially, is an undeniable force that will leave an impression on all within earshot. I regard DJ’ing as an important social tool that has the potential to bring people together, if the sounds are chosen with utmost respect to the circumstances.  Most of the clubs at Hunter College seem to lack my interest in this arena, functioning no farther than a device to inspire some mildly curious rubber-necking. Commercial pop-rap, -reggaeton, and –rock are the most commonly audible offerings, resulting in a blandness that, to my delight, can transform the simplest offering of diversity into a throbbing sore thumb amongst the most well-manicured digits of your campus life. I should note this tactic does not end with music, but has the ability to be applied to any sort of media; audio, visual, or otherwise.)
    So I played a whole bevy of music that you simply would never hear in such a setting. The eclectic and ever-present music became synonymous with Anonymous. People who enjoyed it would stop by the table to hang out and help pass out flyers. I met a bunch of cute girls. I met a few patronizing assholes. I managed to wrench a few smiles out of even the most hardened, antisocial apathetic passerbys. I mean, who can resist not laughing at some poofy-haired kid bopping around to the sounds of Curtis Mayfield or Sly and the Family Stone, standing in the middle of the hallway with a stack of flyers proclaiming anonymity through a megaphone? My shameless enthusiasm and zeal seemed to leave a mark on those willing to be open to it. The only complaints I ever received were from this one particular cranky old lady, who claimed the volume of music was hazardous to the health of the Hunter Community and therefore illegal. I would turn it down as per her nagging, and then immediately turn it up once she was done trying to suck the very spirit out of my youthful shell; a spirit she needs to consume in order to prevent immediate decomposition, like a vampire, or witch. I even won the hearts of the maintenance staff and security there, who generally appreciated the music I was playing (heads bobbing, frowns 180'ing) and on the rare occasion would very politely ask me to turn it down just in case it might disturb nearby classes. I was once asked for a permit, but I somehow brushed that off. And to my greatest satisfaction, the aforementioned manager of the tabling schedule once walked by while I was doing my thing. We met eyes and a mutually understanding smile. I handed him one of my flyers. He mentioned something about me receiving an "F" for something. I laughed, not really hearing or understanding his underhanded accusation, and he moved along without a hitch. 

    The first publication in Fall '07 received a little over 40 submissions. The Spring 2008 issue yielded almost 90. At this rate, I hope I can muster up a very sizable, respectable encyclopedia's worth of Hunter College's most frank and unique writing by the time that I graduate next year. I don't feel any inclination to halt my hallway dance parties any time soon.
    I feel that it's a very valiant and respectable thing to feel a sense ownership towards your school. Your school is one of the few places in your life where you will be able to have direct influence amongst a large group of people. We are subject to the rules and regulations of various systems at all times, and I think we have forgotten how to not only demand something, but act without fear of reprisal by the police, or security, or administration. If a rule is not being enforced, it isn't a rule. When considering defying a rule or regulations at your school, instead of asking yourself "will I get in trouble," ask first of your conscience "am I causing trouble for others, and, if so, at what cost?" This is also assuming that what your are pushing at your school is, in your mind, truly serving the best interest of the campus body. I am not instructing people on how to manipulate the system for one's own selfish benefit. I am trying to inspire people who have fresh, bright ideas to let them grown and shine, by any means necessary.

Good luck to all of you this coming semester.

Ask and Ye Shall Receive: a not-so-novel approach to recruitment

I've never been good at remembering expressions or using them appropriately (e.g. "don't put the cart before the horse," or "don't put all your eggs in one basket"). I'll inevitably screw them up somehow and very confidently say something like "don't put all your eggs before the horse."  Well, there's an expression that I should have tried out earlier than later that goes something like "ask and ye shall receive, seek and ya shall find."

It worked for the Bible (or at least so I hear) and it works for recruitment, as evidenced by the fact that this blog has gone from have 2 writers to 6 (soon to be 7) in a little over a week. What was my technique? I started seeking out promising students on Facebook (by looking for student government groups) and asking the leaders to write for the blog (until Facebook accused me of spamming), I sent a mass email to all student leaders at my own college, and I basically started telling everyone I could think of that I was recruiting for the blog. It was the mouse technique that I scoffed at in my last recruitment post, and apparently it works! All this time, I had been focusing on convincing a few people I knew to write and totally forgetting about the many amazing people that I had not met or thought of yet.

The other thing I've learned (or perhaps re-learned because I have a sneaking suspicion that I had already smacked myself on the forehead for this) is that you never know who will be right for your organization. For example, Steve DeSiena (sorry to point you out, Steve), is a perfect fit for this blog, but I honestly never thought to ask him directly because I figured that he was too busy and too funny to want to get involved. The forehead smack came when he responded to a mass email I sent, saying that he was interested AND knew someone else who'd be a good fit (Mike Sharp - who is a perfect addition).

The moral of this blog:
You never know who will hatch out of which egg, so put all the eggs into the basket, stick the basket in the cart, and get the horse to go asking because he'll eventually find what he's searching for. Got it?

P.S. Please welcome Nick Chapa, Steve DeSiena, Mike Sharp, and (soon to publish) Kody Tinnel!

Making New Friends

Whether you are a business student whose career is  largely driven by "networking", an activist whose  demonstrations depend on "grassroots organizing" or any type of student in between, the ability to connect with others is an integral part of being a leader. There is no better place to work with  people of diverse backgrounds who are willing to learn and challenge themselves, than on a university campus. Creating a genuine connection with another person is always exciting, if not electric. Having more genuine friends expands the breadth of ideas and paradigms you come across, expedites project completion, ensures more attendance at events, effectively "shrinks" your campus, and provides a community of support as you lead your respective groups.

Freshmen year I was neighbors with an Afghan student with a large heart for his community, a student from Mexico who made the All American Men's Soccer team as a freshmen, and a black student with incredible business savvy who hailed from the part of Los Angeles that tourists don't visit. Those were only three of my six neighbors, on a floor of one hundred students. There were nearly one hundred such floors within a square acre on my campus. Yet many students would say, "I  haven't met many interesting people,  I can't relate to anyone here."  There is no reason to ever utter those words, whether at a bus stop, outside of a Starbucks, or even in a convalescent home. It is your responsibility to be confident, genuine, curious, give choices, and offer assistance.

There are many variables that affect interactions, small things that determine whether someone is deemed "smooth", or given the label of "awkward". However, I have found connecting to be extremely simple, enjoyable and rewarding beyond anything else I've ever done.

I have had the opportunity to take part in many classes and seminars regarding connecting, have read a large number of bestsellers regarding the intricacies of networking, and most importantly have made it a point to implement the tips and strategies on my own campus. I look forward to sharing my insights in future posts. The first five posts will expand upon areas that I have found to be integral when developing new friendships: self confidence, coming from a genuine place, curiosity, giving choices, and offering assistance.

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If you're working on goals, try the most advanced goal achievement social network, GoalTribe.com. The site guides you to set goals, build motivation, connect to a support group, track your progress and overcome obstacles to success. You can also learn all about goalsand self improvement on the GoalTribe blog.

Good Things Happen to Bad People

Check your pulse. If beating, you may have heard that the 2008 Olympics are currently underway in Beijing. The quad-annual ultimate test of who's who in world championship titles is creeping its way into day 5, and due to the 12-hour time difference and tricky scheduling, catching the events on television this year is once again proving to be a royal pain. Luckily, favorite events of mine such as swimming and beach volleyball have been shown live in prime time on America's Favorite Network™ NBC.

And what could be more American than the American Olympic men's gymnastics team? Last night, NBC ran the men's team finals live. USA sent a bunch of rookies with consistent disappointing finishes in world trials to take on defending gold medalists Japan and the rest of the free world who seemed to be better than us. Twelve places better, to be exact; part of the current team placed an epic 13^th in the 2006 world championships after the silver medalist team from 2004 dissolved. To further the woeful woes, two teammates withdrew from the event due to injury, leaving alternates Raj Bhavsar and Justin Spring to take their places.

Nobody expected team USA to do as well as they eventually would: after a strong first half, we were in second place up until the final two rounds when nimble Japanese men overtook us, leaving us with a bronze finish (China took gold, gloating before their last routine finished).

For the sake of this blog post, let's assume anything lower than gold isn't a respectable finish. USA, who has been exceeding tremendously in swimming events (5 golds, 5 silvers, 5 bronzes as of this post), is otherwise trailing China in gold medals 13 to 7. Sportsmanship and unity are key factors in the success of the Olympic games, barring rigged judges and cash money playing as the only God the IOC answers to. But for the USA, China is Dick Dastardly and we aspire to be that really handsome guy that probably took Penelope Pitstop for a ride or two, if you catch my drift. I honestly don't anymore.

This brings us to the title of my blog post: “Good Things Happen to Bad People”. China isn't bad per se, but they are technically the enemy and we will treat them as such. Let's consider the reversal of this phrase. Many so-called 'leaders' will tell you to learn from your mistakes. This has never worked for me, and chances are it hasn't worked for you either. Unless you are going into a skirmish intending to learn from trial and error, it's assumed that you have a basic understanding of how to succeed. I'll use a simple illustration to help you better understand what I'm getting at here:

After a reconnection with old friends at a party, you attempt to organize another party so you may relive the experience another night. There is obviously a chance of success here: someone (it doesn't matter who) has done it before, and now you want to do it again. To accomplish this, you pick a night when you know your parents aren't going to be home. You call up your friends and tell them you're going to be holding a party at such and such a place at such and such a time. One friend has work that night. Another was invited to a different party, and another is spending the night with his girlfriend because it's her birthday or her dog died or whatever, who cares about girls.

In this scenario, you have failed to accomplish your goals, making you the loser (and invariably, someone else the winner). What is your next logical decision? Reschedule to maximize turnout? Hold the party anyway and invite lesser friends? Cry?

Most people would probably pick the first choice. I would ask my winner friend to tell me his secrets to party organizing and time planning. I don't wish to learn from my mistakes, rather, I wish to learn from his advantages.

I am simply talking about aspiration versus self-pity. Talentless relying on talented. No band has ever stepped on to the stage and said “We're going to rock you, but not as hard as Metallica would!” No! They step up to the mic and scream “I WANT TO BE METALLICA!” You can replace 'Metallica' with another other band that other bands might aspire to be. I personally don't like them and have been out of the music loop for years.

So, bringing this back to the Olympics, I can sum this up using only the USA women's synchronized diving team as an example. When USA lost to China in synchronized diving in 2004, did they sit at home, watch video tapes of themselves diving, and consider what they need to improve upon? Absolutely not, maybe! They hired a former Chinese diving coach to teach two already talented divers how to shine. We still lost to China this year, but whatever. Everyone has their weaknesses. For the American male gymnasts it's the pommel horse. I am allergic for apples for some reason.

It's all about unity. Unify with someone else and steal their techniques. Become stronger than them. Be the winner. Make some other guy reluctantly accept bronze. Go Phelps.

Hey, I Think I Like America After All!

Many students, even student leaders, these days take a flippant, dismissive stance toward patriotism, myself included. I think it's a backlash against the overly patriotic middle-aged people we were all around after 9/11. These days the hyperpatriotism of our fathers has mostly died down aside from the occasional crazy conspiracy theorist who thinks the Jews or Santa Claus or every Muslim ever including Barack Hussein Obama was really behind 9/11 and that America is the only safe place in the world or whatever. Despite the relatively less patriotic scene in America these days, student pride in our country isn't nearly as high as it used to be due to the way most of the rest of the world hates us as well as the tanking economy and endless war in Iraq and everything else that has gone wrong over the last several years.

Despite the lack of patriotism usually found in students, I've noticed that there is something that has gotten most everyone excited to be an American again: the Olympics.

If Facebook statuses are any indication, most of my friends, even the ones who aren't sports fans, watch the Games as much as possible to see our best athletes kick the crap out of the rest of the world. The men's 4x100 meter freestyle relay on Sunday night was the catalyst, I think, and would have been an excellent cap to our Olympics this year had it happened later on in the Games. After the amazing comeback by Phelps and Phriends, a lot of my friends reacted with such intelligent remarks as “eat it, France” and other colorful language. I only read descriptions of the event and thought, okay, that's kinda cool I guess. I watched the race the next day on NBC.com and found myself on the edge of my seat, arms raised in triumph even though I knew what happened. Fellow SL blogger Steve and I watched Michael Phelps dominate some scrubs in some swim meet last night and I felt we really bonded as Americans. I guess what we can learn here is that it may be hip to say America blows and we should all move to Canada or France, but after watching our best beat everyone else (except the Chinese at diving and gymnastics, sheesh those folks are ridiculous), living here and enjoying it is still pretty cool.

The man responsible for renewing college students' faith in America, ladies and gentlemen.

4 Hour Work Week for Student Leaders??

I've been reading a nifty little book called 4 Hour Work Week, written by a modern-day Renaissance man named Tim Ferris, who claims to work 4 hours per week while dancing tango, practicing martial arts, and learning new languages all over the world. Though student leadership isn't the best source of funding for our dream vacations, Tim's advice can seriously cut down the amount of time we spend doing whatever it is that we do so that we can purse other ventures or bigger dreams of student leadership:

Here's a quickie overview of some of his most relevant suggestions:

- Check email only twice per day (once around noon and again around 4pm).
- Get people that know more than you to summarize what they know so that you don't have to learn it (e.g. ask your group member to show you how to fill out a form instead of spending time figuring it out).
- Have at least one important goal every day and complete it in the morning, BEFORE checking email.
- Following the 80/20 rule, figure out which 20% of you actions contributes to 80% of your useful output and cut out the rest. In other words, do only the things that are useful.
- Shorten your deadlines (because work expands to fill time). Give yourself and others less time to do something than seems reasonable. This gets people moving, focused, and often produces better work. For example, I gave myself 10 minutes to write this post, and it does a better job of getting right to the point than a lot of my other writing.
- Delegate like crazy: give everything that you don't absolutely need to do to your group members, and give them decision making authority so that you don't slow down their work.
- Have fun... wait no that was Randy Pausch's advice, but I really like it.

P.S. 1 minute left to spare!