It wouldn’t be surprising to hear that this guy is a familiar face to the many people of CMU’s campus. Everyone meet Max Nielsen, a marketing and logistics student from Rochester! Max’s hobbies are consistent with those of many college students: tailgating, playing video games with his fraternity brothers, working out, and socializing with his fellow peers. What sets Max aside from the rest of us is his extraordinary resume of leadership positions, primarily in the Greek community. His extensive list of positions have been pursued with selflessness and confidence to only better college life for those around him, trailblazing the way for male leaders to follow.
Max’s journey as a leader began when he accepted a bid from Sigma Chi in Fall 2011, and has since been appointed to many recognizable positions including scholarship chairman, public relations chairman, and social chairman. Building off of what he learned from his own chapter, Max stepped up to lead a larger population on the executive board of the Interfraternity Council (IFC), the congregation that looks over the activities of all fraternities on campus. As Vice President of PR, and eventually Vice President for IFC, Max has seen and dealt with just about every situation presented in fraternity life. On top of his service to these positions, Max holds the Vice President chair of Order of Omega, the Greek honors society.
Through these positions Max has learned a lot about himself and what it means to be a leader. In his own words, he tells me that he has learned how to be a man of good character. He has learned what it means to not only represent himself, but an organization and the Greek community at all times. Max also emphasized how important it is to put academics before anything else.
So how does he manage all of this on top of attaining impressive grades and a fulfilling social life, you may ask? Max says it’s all about organization. He keeps a detailed calendar that includes meeting times, due dates for schoolwork, as well as his social plans. Before a night out with his friends, he makes sure all of his responsibilities are taken care of.
Max is an exemplary model of the kind of successful and positive leaders we need on CMU’s campus and in the Greek community. Just from my brief interview with him, I could sense him radiating passion for the positions he holds and what he stands for. He puts total commitment into every position and has made great strides in governing us as Greek members. From him we can learn that it’s important to be open to every opportunity because you never know where it may lead you. It’s not only about the positions he has held, but what he has learned along the way.
With his passion comes the most genuine intentions; Max describes his leadership style as, “trying to help [organizations] in any way that [he] can by leading others in the right direction and learning from those that have had the experiences before [him].”
When asked what advice Max would give to emerging leaders in our community he responded, “Make sure to make the most out of every opportunity available. Give these opportunities your all. In the long run, they will give you a large amount of experience and will turn you into a great leader.”