4 Simple Ways to be a H.E.R.O.
From personal experience as a President of three campus organizations and a founder of two, I want to share with you the secret strategies that the super successful student leaders use called the H.E.R.O. Leadership Model.
1. Humility
Great leaders possess great humility and know when to admit they need help, have made a mistake or share their weaknesses. People do not fully respect a leader who acts like they have arrived at perfection, but they do rally around ones that are progressing!
Simple ways to be humble:
• Do a monthly/quarterly assessment of yourself. It is a simple tool I call a Plus/Delta. Ask your peers what you are doing well (Plus) and where you can improve and need to start doing (Delta). This is humbling and can help you grow as a leader by understanding what you’re not doing well.
• Realize that you do not know everything. Go to conferences, read books and listen to your members’ suggestions.
2. Empowering
Super successful student leaders want the future year to be better than the last. Groom the next generation of leaders and realize that you don’t always need the spotlight. Start sharing it now so others are equipped to take the torch of leadership!
How you can be empowering:
• Don’t only delegate things that you don’t want to do. Instead delegate the “sexy” stuff and your members will appreciate you for it!
• Create a transition plan where you share tangible and intangible knowledge you’ve gained as a leader. Sharing successes and failures will help them become a better leader.
3. Relational
Get to really know your members and find out why they joined the organization in the first place. Understanding your members shows that you care about them as a person – which tends to make them better members. If you do not know where your members want to go or gain within your organization, how will you help them get there?
Relate better to your members by:
• Ask the people who are following you why they joined and help them accomplish it. After all, in humility you realize it is not all about your vision.
• Get to know your members. Hang out and talk non-business in order to better understand them as a person. You just might find out you really like them.
4. Optimistic
Your attitude affects how your members approach things. They watch to see how you respond in high-pressure or bad news situations. Responding with negativity might make your members do the same. Keep the proper perspective and challenge your perception.
Great ways to be optimistic:
• Recognize your members for doing things right. Horrible leaders focus on only the negative things.
• If you have a challenging member, find out what is going on and help them through it. They will remember that you were willing to fight for them!
With these simple yet powerful strategies you can start being a H.E.R.O. on your campus and for the rest of your life. Will you apply ACTion or just be an average student leader? The choice is yours!
Justin has great strategies for leadership integrated into his keynotes. He speaks on a variety of topics but always challenges students and staff to ACTion. When you bring Justin to your campus, you will always get an exciting keynote full of high-energy and important lessons for success.
Check out campuspeak.com/jones-fosu to see all of Justin’s keynotes.
RSS
CAMPUSPEAK Home