College students as catalysts for social change: a case study
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- Naïveté and Idealism
- Commitment to Principles
Traits and ValuesSLP founders exhibited individual traits and values that included a high degree of selflessness. The founders practice a shared or distributed leadership model (Spillane, 2004) which is then mirrored in the organization through the use of the Core Model. This belief system of distributed leadership is manifested in camps, bus trips, and chapter meetings. SLP’s former advisor Antony talked about this sharing of leadership responsibilities with the group. One thing I noticed in working with them--they as a group--they would obviously share their responsibility. So, if one person couldn’t do something another one would step in and kind of pick up the slack…I think for the four of them, I think that was a strong leadership trait. The founders of SLP also listen to the membership and take decisions back for direction, guidance, and input. During the summer leadership retreat the founders spent much of the time there seeking input about the future of the organization and strategic planning. They asked the college leadership to provide guidance to them. During the leadership camp the founders spent time with the returning students seeking their input about continuing the camps and their importance to the participants. So, distributed leadership is deeper than just the National Core (that is, the founders); it tends to permeate the entire organization using the Core Model where decisions are made by the group. Greenleaf (1991) proposes, “A true natural servant automatically responds to any problem by listening first” (pg. 10). The founders listen to the needs and input of both college and high school students and are very intentional about clarity and transparency of information sharing.
Mackenzie describes how this naïveté has already faded in the four year since they started the group, If we were to start SLP right now with our degrees…we are already somehow jaded from the last four years. SLP succeeded because we were so naïve…we thought we could accomplish anything, and we believed that. When you are fresh in college you don’t know, you’re like “whatever”, the world at my fingertips, let’s do it. This idealism allowed them to be bold in accomplishing many things. They are not alone in this boldness. Wendy Kopp (2003) founder of Teach For America, states: “I started out as one of the most naïve college seniors in the history of Princeton University. That Teach For America came to be, in spite of my naïveté is testament to the fact that together idealism and determination can make bold ideas happen” (p. xii). An interviewed committee member discusses a similar idealism of the SLP founders regarding their creation of an advisory board made up of community leaders. “I thought it was actually…pretty amazing that they would even attempt to do that. They have so much guts, you know there is no fear there.” Another interviewee also talked about the community advisory board and his involvement with it being mutually beneficial. The founders’ boldness has gotten the commitment and involvement of people such as a former CEO of Norwest Bank, a Regent of the University, and a Vice President of Cargill to meet and commit time to talk about SLP’s strategic planning process. Commitment to PrinciplesOther traits that the founders all exhibit are their values, leadership, and healthy lifestyle, summarized as a commitment to principles. These individual traits and values are role modeled by the founders, and create a culture within SLP, such as in the zero tolerance policy on alcohol and drugs. As seen from the earlier example of the participants being sent home after consuming alcohol, it is not empty rhetoric. The SLP leadership even discusses issues such as caffeine being a substance and not promoting the use of energy drinks in a healthy lifestyle. There is a section in the Bus Core leader expectation sheet that all leaders must sign that states: “I understand that SLP promotes healthy living and healthy choices, and that I am expected to represent this position through the types of foods and beverages that are supplied to the Tour participants by SLP.” Mackenzie talks about how this is modeled, I promote a lot of very difficult questions for people in every program I do. In almost every conversation I have and for me to emulate a lifestyle that is not coinciding with what I promote is just hard for me. I can’t do that! I can’t tell a high schooler X, Y, Z if I am doing that on Saturday night. I couldn’t feel good about that. The founders’ commitment to principles is carried out in everyday actions, and conversations are held within SLP about use of language, respect and even simple things like the importance of core members writing prompt thank you notes to sites and donors after trips. Pete talks about it being a lifestyle decision: You have to be leading all the time, in a sense, every decision you make. And that’s what we tell our student leadership…We like to see people in SLP who are not just leaders nine days out of the year during a trip, because anybody can do that. But, leaders twenty-four hours a day, you know, 365 days a year because…that’s true leadership, it’s genuine. Being a leader twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week is not without its strain. All of the founders talked about the pressure of being put on a pedestal at times and the expectations of leadership that go with this. Mackenzie commented about how people are sometimes in awe of her and feel it is an honor to eat lunch with her. She commented, “I eat lunch everyday!” Pete talked about sometimes feeling like he was in a “fishbowl” in terms of being observed by the membership. In a study conducted by DiPaolo (2004) of fraternity members he interviewed all “shared about the occasional loneliness and isolation of being a leader” (p. 42).
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