“Unless commitment is made, there are only promises and hopes; but no plans” -- Peter F. Drucker

Commitment: Having significant investment in an idea or person, both in terms of intensity and duration. Having the energy to serve the group and its goals. Commitment originates form within, but others can create an environment that supports an individual’s passions.
I feel that Commitment is the most important C to keep in mind when acting as a Change Agent. One of the most important aspects of social change that we discussed very early on in this class is that in order to achieve social change, you must continually engage in the desired outcome. Social change is not a one time thing; it is an actual movement that perpetuates beyond a single service event or group seminar. From this explanation, I feel that commitment is the most important ingredient to acting as a Change Agent because it takes commitment to continue on the legacy of a movement for social change. Without “having the energy to serve the group and its goals” (as defined in the definition in the book), the movement for social change would slowly die out and the role as a Change Agent would become irrelevant.

In my opinion, the biggest challenge in becoming a Change Agent is dealing with adversity, distractions, and pressure from opposition. As Chapter President’s, we are always the most excited about social change and usually have the best ideas for social change within the chapter or the community as a whole, but we are often deterred from the path of achieving these goals by these three obstacles. As we learned at CPLI and GO!, often times as Chapter Presidents we find ourselves managing rather than leading. We are often caught up in adverse situations that usually come unannounced and at the worst possible time every time. Of course, it is vital for us to address and fix these issues, but it is a huge deterrent from implementing goals as a Change Agent. A second challenge to becoming a Change Agent is distractions. Often times in college we get mixed up in the shuffle and lose sight of what we want to achieve. Especially at a school like OSU, it is difficult to focus on one thing at a time. Whether it academic, extra-curricular, or social, it is hard to fit everything into just 24 hours in one day. Being a Change Agent takes focus and dedication, and without these, the distractions that we encounter in life will deter anyone from achieving their goals for change. Finally, the last piece that serves as a challenge to becoming a Change Agent is pressure from other peers who may oppose your goals or views. Often times as Chapter Presidents, it is up to us to make the final, right decision. We often have to make a decision that may be unpopular, but we have to do what is right for the chapter and the community. Caving in to heavy pressure from those who may be ignorant to the facts of what is truly the right thing to do will certainly deter a person from being a Change Agent and achieving social change. Staying committed to your beliefs in this realm will allow you as Change Agent to not only be congruent but also a good leader and a successful Change Agent!

Anyone can certainly be a Change Agent, that is, if they have the right mind set. As long as a person is COMMITTED to their goal and stays consistent with their vision, they can work to being a role model to the community as a Change Agent. In my perspective, Change Agent’s do not always have to be successful in everything they do. Even the most influential people in the world who have committed to and created change in the world have not always succeeded the first time around. At the end of the day, if you are committed to what you do, what you believe in, and what you plan to pursue, all of the hard work will pay off in some way or another and the pieces will eventually fall together.

“Unless commitment is made, there are only promises and hopes; but no plans”
--Peter F. Drucker

My Personal Vision Statement

When attempting to formulate my personal vision statement, I had a difficult time trying to narrow it down to a solid path. There are so many things that I believe in and that are important to me, but they do not all necessarily tie in together. So, I have decided to draft a personal vision statement that ties in closely with my personal vision for Greek life:

"My vision, as Chapter President, is to cultivate friendship and collaborative efforts throughout the Greek community, encourage my members to outside their comfort zone whenever the opportunity arises, and to promote unity of all Greek houses."

Although this vision statement seems a bit general, these three items are things that I believe in strongly. I see all three of these items as helpful ways for us to promote positivity and progression for the Ohio State Greek community.

I believe in friendship and collaboration among all Greek organizations because I feel it is the sole purpose for our existence. Sure there is the sisterhood/brotherhood and pride of individuality, but throughout the past four weeks of my presidency I have learned that the bonds that can be made outside of the chapter house are truly remarkable and are often neglected. So many of our members are often negligent to one another and are often guilty of only wanting to associate with members of their own organization. Personally, I think that we can learn a lot from each other from the many similarities and differences that we all as individual chapters bring to the table here at Ohio State. I have made some pretty incredible friendships with members from other houses, and I want to promote this opportunity to others as much as possible. The things that we can achieve as a community through multi-chapter collaboration is truly incredible; we should be proud of the differences that we can make in the world as single organizations, but these efforts can be even more impactful when we collaborate with one another.

I believe that stepping out of one’s comfort zone is the definition of truly living life to the fullest. I am a very ambitious person, and I feel that it is important to want to strive for diversity. The more that we learn, the more that we grow. Knowledge is infectious, and stepping outside of one’s comfort zone is the way to learning more about not only our Greek community, but also the world as a whole. I believe in the statement “never judge a book by its cover” and “never judge someone before you walk a mile in his/her shoes”. I feel that it is important to learn all walks of life before ever judging someone. This is an important part of my personal vision statement because I believe so strongly in the importance of diversity and learning about others and the world.

The last part of my personal vision statement deals with unity. I see this as a completely separate entity from the “collaboration” section because I think that unity means knowing that we are all one community. Often times we get caught up in our own worlds within out chapters, but I think it is important to always remember that at the end of the day, we are one community. With 63 chapters at Ohio State and 4 different governing councils, that is one hell of a support system! :) There are so many people that we all can reach out to and lend a helping hand to. I feel that often times we neglect the opportunity to unite and it is important for us to recognize all of the great resources around us that we can use as not only support systems, but as friends.

In all, my personal vision statement is all about the big picture. I have this vision because I believe so strongly in the community as a whole. I feel that the more that we open the door to community collaboration, friendships, education, and unity, the more we can progress toward making SOCIAL CHANGE. :)

Blog #5: Collaboration, baby!

I think that individuals find it challenging to collaborate with others because it is often difficult to find a group of people with the same exact vision as you. In order to collaborate and get something done, the group has to agree on working toward the same goal. Otherwise, you are wasting your time in round about conversations trying to tie together everyone’s ideas together. I feel that the things that are most difficult to engage in with collaboration is that often times people are unwilling to give up their initial ideas and mesh them together with others. From my experience, I feel like some people are just too egocentric to admit that another idea may be better than their own. Or, people may be so narrow minded that they cannot seem to detach themselves from their own ideas and accept others. Successful collaboration can occur when there is trust, delegation, and open-mindedness. From my experience, I feel that these three elements are necessary, and without all three, it will never work. More importantly, all members of the group must be engaged fully for it to work successfully. If one or more members are not on the same page as everyone else, it staunches the process and brings the entire group morale and effort down.

Diversity in an organization is beneficial because it brings in new perspectives. It lessens the chance of narrow-mindedness and keeps a group in check in the sense that they would have multiple perspectives to rely on. From my experience, I see that competition is the most important factor behind collaborative efforts. This may be a bold statement, but I feel like in things like Greek week, sporting competitions, etc. this is the time when a group truly comes together to buckle down and get the job done as efficiently and accurately as possible. Competition is often seen as a negative thing, but I feel it can bring out the best in people as far as getting things done and working efficiently. It motivates people to want to be the best they can be.

Citizenship Beyond the "Checklist"

I really enjoy the topic of citizenship because since the beginning of my presidency, one of my main goals was and has been to make a better, stronger, more positive image of my chapter to not only the Greek community but the community of the Ohio State University as a whole. As a younger, more naive student, I used to view citizenship as something where you did your “deeds” to society and called it a day. I saw it as a way to “check off the box of things to do” throughout a certain time period to make you a better person. Now, after experiencing numerous different leadership and community service opportunities, my view has opened up to a broader, more mature standpoint. In this current point in time, I see citizenship as constant engagement with those within the community beyond the required expectations. I see it as an ongoing effort to stay engaged with others in a positive way and working with others to improve the entire community as a whole.
From this experience of growth within myself, I have been able to portray this personal viewpoint to my chapter and try to implement it within our house. In the Greek community, we try to attend as many philanthropy and service events ran by other chapters to help support them throughout the year. We see this as a great act of citizenship because we are not only helping each chapter raise awareness and funds for a great cause, but it also helps us to maintain positive relationships with other chapters. We also do our best to do dinner swaps and collaborative Safety, Health, and Wellness events and service events with other chapters to maintain those relationships among other houses.
In all, having good citizenship is more than just completing a “checklist” of what is required by OSU or chapter guidelines. It is about reaching out beyond those requirements and doing something active and positive to help not only yourself but also others. To be a good citizen, you must transcend the norm or the “checklist” of what we see is right. A good citizen will do his or her best to lend a helping hand to those in need even when the deed has no visible incentive or reward in the end. I feel that if our community works to transcend what some people may see as being a “citizen” and actually gets active and innovative, we can truly work to make some positive changes in our community as Greeks.