Leadership, Culture, and Creativity

To encourage safety in our school culture, I began searching out newer students and talking with them when I had free time. I wanted to connect with them as friends rather than searching them out when I only needed them to do something. That way, if they ever needed help with something, they would feel comfortable coming to me.

The Challenge

Salisbury Academy Upper School opened in the 2023-2024 school year, my freshman year. As a founding student and upperclassman, I carried responsibility to help initiate, build, and lead our first extracurricular offerings. As a leader, I struggled with connecting to my peers and making them feel safe.

I was elected as President of our Junior Civitan Club.

And I was elected as Vice President of our National Honor Society.

I conducted interviews with leaders in the local community to deepen my depth of knowledge of leadership. I reflected on each of these interviews in my leadership blog. Explore my blog by clicking on the icon to the left.

One thing that stood out to me most from my time talking to leaders was that many of them learned leadership through experience. Lots of them tried out leadership without culture and figured out first-hand that it didn't work for them.

One thing many of my interviewees spoke to was the importance of vulnerability. All of the interviewees said that being vulnerable helped them build a culture, whether that was through asking questions or telling silly and slightly embarrassing stories about themselves.

One piece of advice I found most helpful was leading by example. Whether that was changing the diaper on a baby or cleaning a room a certain way, it shows that no matter your title in a group, everyone is capable of doing these somewhat small tasks that may seem tedious.

Learning Leadership from Leaders

Throughout the first semester of my junior year, I was tasked with reading and studying "The Culture Code" by Daniel Coyle.

Culture is Key

I built culture in the school through Junior Civitan. To encourage safety, I sought people outside of Junior Civitan meetings, helping them with work or just talking and laughing with them. I didn't want to just be their President, I wanted to be a friend.

When it comes to vulnerability, I tried my hardest to be vulnerable myself. Whether it's during a meeting or just a conversation between friends, I admit to mistakes and laugh at myself as often as possible. I don't take myself too seriously, naturally, but now I try to do it as little as possible.

To remind everyone of Junior Civitan's purpose, we say the Junior Civitan creed at the start of every meeting, which explicitly states the meaning of the club with the line, "to make the world a better place."

"I screwed that up are the most important words any leader can say."

Daniel Coyle The Culture Code

Solitude and Leadership

At the beginning of the year I studied William Deresiewicz's 2009 lecture given at the US Military Academy at West Point entitled Solitude and Leadership.

On the first read, what really stood out to me was Deresiewicz's concept of solitude. Taking time to think for yourself or maybe even having a deep conversation with a close friend. The need to take time without any other distractions to come up with original ideas. Searching for older media to learn older ideas. All of these told me that a part of leadership was being alone to think more deeply.

At the conclusion of the course, I return to the text and find several new connections to my learning from leading and cultivating culture.

The text mentions the ability to fight for your ideas. This aligns with Coyle's concept of safety, where your team feels safe enough to speak up when they have an idea or when they need help.
As mentioned above, a way of "solitude" is to have a conversation with a friend. This communication allows you to dig deeper into whatever you are discussing, which is what Coyle promotes in his book. Being able to communicate properly with your team is very important for culture.
In the text, Deresiewicz encourages you not to "jump through hoops." Just doing what has to be done. Jumping through hoops isn't coming up with original works; it's just trying to appeal to whoever can give you more. In The Culture Code, Coyle promotes culture because it creates better work. Through purpose, safety, and vulnerability, you have alignment. In that alignment, it is easier to create work that doesn't just appeal to higher-ups, but benefits those that need it.

Page updated

Report abuse