When society today thinks about sorority life at a college campus, many things come up instinctively. Drinking. Partying. Carefully calculated outfits that aren’t quite matching, but just the right amount of uniformity. Maybe that one mean girl from high school. It is no secret that being in a sorority has its stigmas. However, an incredibly overlooked aspect of being Greek in college is the access to leadership opportunities. Hi! My name is Olivia Lynch, the incoming Panhellenic President for Virginia Tech and this is my piece on the Greek Life leadership experience. Â
This past weekend Virginia Tech sent 43 students involved within the four greek councils to AFLV (Association of Fraternal Leadership and Values) Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana. This was a three day leadership conference with group talk sessions, council specific speeches, and leadership engagement seminars. We covered everything from leadership burnout, cross council collaborations, and addressing hard topics when it comes to Greek life. Â
One of the biggest take aways from this weekend came from Bonny Shade. A professional speaker who has come to Virginia Tech on multiple accounts. Her talk gained my interest, considering it was titled “Leadership is OVERRATED”. As someone who takes leadership likely too seriously, I was ready to go into this talk and hear all the reasons she was wrong. To my surprise, and only my surprise, I was the one who was wrong.Â
She opened her talk with “I am not here to make you comfortable, I am here to make you better”. I was hooked. The baseline of this talk was leadership is something we tend to have unfair expectations of. For starters, leadership is not a single effort, and we as a community need to stop placing that standard on our student leaders. We often glorify individuals’ exhaustion and burn out because it creates success for our organization or group. Leadership should never require you to disappear, collaboration is what leads to success. She walked the audience through three reasons that “leadership” or the definition we have created, is overrated. Â
First, Burn out. Everyone has heard this term, and likely experienced it. Hell, I know I have. There is always something more I could be doing, there is always something extra I can add. And I do, we do, without fail, everytime. A common thing student leaders run into is mentors, peers, and even friends telling you that you “should” run for something, that you “should” join this club, “should, should, should”. Stop letting people be you. The things you do should be based on your values, your boundaries, and yourself. Not what other people think you should do. Â
Second, “It’s not the answer”. She stood up and told us her story of how her own selflessness exhausted her. The expectation that as a leader you need to do everything. Doing what is required isn’t enough. There is a difference between slacking off and delegating tasks that can be distributed. Asking for help is not weak, it is the biggest strength a leader can have. If someone is leading because they want all the glory or want everyone to like them? They are not a leader, they are a performer. Leadership has always been, and will always be a group effort. As real leaders, we work for our organization, not for our own gain.Â
Third and final, It takes time. Effective leadership takes time. When you are in a position of authority or leadership, there is an expectation to make a positive impact. That expectation is often drilled into our heads as time sensitive. Take a step back and look at all the effective leaders you know, did any of them make changes immediately? No. And if they did, there was a past framework set up beforehand. Impact and real change takes a lot more than just putting the work in. It takes patience, education, and collaboration. As leaders, we need to be investing in people, in systems, and in the environment. Â
At the end of the day, leadership is overrated. Not leaders, not people, not organizations, but the definition and standard that leaders are held to. No person should believe it is up to just them to change the world. We need to start by changing the ground we are standing on, controlling what we can, and investing in the future.