From Student to Leader: Taking the Leap

This is part 8 of an 11-part series on Undergraduate Social Entrepreneurship coordinated by the Social Innovation Initiative at Brown University. This post's author is Scott Warren, Executive Director and Co-Founder of Generation Citizen.

As a junior in college, I landed myself in a position for which I immediately felt under-qualified: serving as the director of STAND, a student organization working to end the atrocities in Darfur and create a permanent anti-genocide constituency. STAND is comprised of over 800 college and high school chapters and uses a structure of over 40 volunteers and two permanent staffers to organize, plan campaigns and conduct advocacy. At the onset, I found myself overwhelmed, unsure of how to effectively lead, and challenged to effectively balance my work with my academics -- let alone my social life.

The challenges of running an organization while a student are myriad. High school and college teach us intellectual truths and challenge us to think critically, but not how to lead or run an organization. (Possibly because nothing teaches you about running an organization like actually running an organization.) Accordingly, while I consulted with others and read books to attempt to learn more about leadership, nothing replaced the on-the-job-training.

One of the main challenges of running an organization as a student is legitimacy: it's hard to get people to take you seriously as a 20-something year old.

While attempting to pass a state divestment bill (which ultimately was successful), for example, one official asked me if I was "trying out a school project." Even my parents doubted the importance of the work. Acquiring legitimacy, for both yourself and your organization, is much easier said than done.

Another challenge is establishing an effective leadership style. When you're running an organization, you're going to be in charge of peers who might feel that they know just as much as you do (and they might). The temptation in this situation is to get everyone to like you. Conversely, however, it's critical to remember that being a leader is not about getting people to like you, but about formulating a mission and strategy and getting the job done. That's what leadership is: figuring out how to make those around you better, and ultimately, accomplish your organization's goal.

There are plenty of other challenges towards running an organization as a young person: finding the time, learning how to make a strategic plan, gaining your peers and superiors' respect, networking and more. There is, however, one indispensable trait that young people do have: passion. This trait almost single-handedly allowed me to surpass all the challenges inherent in serving as STAND's director. Through my passion, I was able to demonstrate that I'd do whatever it took to effectively lead the organization forward, and gained other's respect through that relentless pursuit. I screwed up a lot, but my dedication to figuring out how to do well kept me on the right path. Passion, real passion, is the most indispensable trait towards running a great organization.

Since directing STAND, I've founded a new organization, Generation Citizen, which promotes civic engagement in lower-income youth populations through an action-based approach inspired through my anti-genocide activism. After graduating, I continued my work, and the same challenges remain. Every day, I meet with people who are skeptical of what a 22-year old can actually accomplish. Every day, I realize that I don't know everything about actually running a non-profit. Regardless of these challenges, though, I remain passionate about my work. And when you're a young person, trying to do work that is challenging and overwhelming, that's what matters most.

Photo Credit: Kate at yr own risk