When I became a leader, I had no clue what I was doing. I was a high school student and had just been elected student body president. I had served as class president and in a few other positions, but there didn’t seem to be a lot of responsibility that stretched me at that point. As president of the study body, now a senior, I quickly realized lots of students and teachers were looking to me for leadership.
What in the world does a senior in high school have to add to the field of leadership?
We were in the second year of a new school and most of the students were forced to leave their previous school to attend this one. Some went willingly, but many were reluctantly bused to a school absent of many of their friends. In my first year at the school, as a junior, I was one of the reluctant students. In my new position, I knew firsthand the need, as well as the challenge, to encourage the morale and build momentum in this new school.
(Recognizing a need is one key to being an effective leader—but I still had no clue how to accomplish this.)
Thankfully I had a seasoned leader for a principal. Mr. Huggins was a retired army colonel who loved seeing students succeed. He became my mentor and my biggest supporter as a new leader.
(Every new leader needs someone who believes in them, mentors them and helps them get back up when they fall.)
Through his leadership of me, I learned a few “secrets,” which helped me as student body president. I carried them with me as I entered the business world and later as I led my own businesses. I used them in an elected office.
Even today in ministry, these same “secrets” have made me a better leader. I’ve gotten lots of practice with them and they are more comfortable to me now, but they still are pillars of my understanding of what good and effective leadership looks like.
(Good leaders learn good principles and build upon them, contextualizing them for each leadership position.)
The principles started with the investment of my principal in me.
