In a couple of weeks, students will return to campus for another school year. It is our student leaders who show up first.
When they arrive we’ll tell our stories about the summer. We’ll go on a retreat and bond and laugh and prepare. Then we’ll focus on all of the things we have to do to get ready for the start of the school year.
At some point, I’ll share this message. It’s a message I share every single year:
We call you “student leaders” right now because you hold a student leader position. But you’re not a student leader…yet. If you do everything your position requires by yourself, you are a student worker. But if you get others involved – if you create a tribe of people for whom you cast vision, inspire, and motivate – then you will fulfill your role as student leader.
The truth is, we need student workers. But we don’t need you to be a student worker. We need you to be a student leader.
I repeat this message every year because it’s necessary every year. Doing it by yourself is not an option. One is too small a number for greatness!
I’ve written about it and discuss it in greater detail here: Student Worker or Student Leader
Today, I’m taking this lesson and applying it to what I do here on this site. Today, I’m taking the next step in learning what it means to develop lifelong leaders.
I spend a lot of time with students and with people who work with students. When it comes to the topic of leadership, especially leadership development among students, there are always questions. I want to create a community of people who spend time wrestling with those questions. I want to engage in some conversations.
I firmly believe that every student is going to encounter a situation where he or she must act as a leader. I see how students simply need a guide to catalyze their leadership growth. Do you see this?
If so, we need to talk. We need to help each other get better at this. With that in mind, I’m creating a weekly/bi-monthly letter to create conversation around the process of becoming a lifelong leader.
I hope it adds value.
I hope it creates conversation.
I hope it serves you well.
I took some time in July to reflect on the first part of 2012 and strategize for the second half. This idea kept coming to the surface. The look of leadership is changing, but the need for leadership remains vitally necessary. There has to be some way, in a world that is growing in its complexity, to engage every student to think like a leader thinks.
Will you join this tribe of lifelong leaders?
I’m making it really easy right now. Sign up with your email address (privacy is guaranteed) and you’re in. As a way of thanking you, I’ll send you a link to my book, Tweedership: Learning Leadership In 140 Characters Or Less. It’s a great resource full of leadership tips, wisdom, and ideas.
Once you’ve signed up, you’ll hear from me three to four times a month with an idea or two about developing lifelong leaders. We’ll see where it goes from there. I hope you’ll join us.
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