Leadership and Culture

Salisbury Academy Upper School opened in the 2023-2024 school year, my sophomore year. As a founding student and upperclassman I carried the responsibility of helping initiate, build, and lead our school into the culture it was going to be.

My Role in Leadership

Leadership for me has always meant showing up, even when I did not have to. I make an effort to reach out to new students, serve as a tutor, and stay involved in as many school activities as possible so others could see someone genuinely invested in the community. By being friendly, approachable, and consistent, I tried to lead by example and help others feel comfortable getting involved.

A major part of my leadership has come from serving as the founding President of the National Honor Society. In this role, I've presided over chapter meetings, prepared and approved agendas, planned the yearly calendar, overseen service projects, maintained service hour records, organized the induction ceremony for new members, and represented the chapter in public and official functions. I've also worked to establish new positions when necessary and provide guidance to members while promoting cooperation. Most importantly, I've aimed to set an example of scholarship, leadership, service, and character for others to follow.

In addition to NHS, I've built and run the NHS sponsored E.D.G.E. Time sessions from the ground up, with the goal of providing students with a boost on achieving there futures. Through constant reflections with my teacher and feedback from NHS members, I have worked to improve as a leader. I have seen my roles as a leader help students feel a stronger sense of belonging, boost morale, increase engagement in service, and influence school culture in meaningful ways.

The Challenge in Leadership

Leadership is far from a clean and easy task, it requires a lot of hurtle jumps and reevaluations. The biggest challenge I have encountered while leading NHS has been increasing motivation and genuine interest among members and students. Many students struggle to care about the work being done in NHS or during E.D.G.E. Time, often participating only because it looks good on a resume rather than because they feel connected to the purpose. This challenge is rooted in my failure to initially build a functioning culture, as I assume students have felt disconnected from the organization and unsure of what NHS is truly working toward.

Without a clear sense of shared purpose, participation can feel like an obligation instead of something meaningful. Some members see NHS as pointless or not worth their time, which has made engagement difficult and highlighted the need to rebuild motivation, clarity, and connection within the group.

Leadership Solved

Learning Leadership from Leaders

To improve my own leadership, 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. You can see what I learned about how to be an effective leader by clicking the puzzle image.

Culture is Key

Recognizing the flaws in the culture I had, I decided to address them by morphing both my leadership approach and the overall culture of NHS around the ideas in The Culture Code. First I tried emphasizing on safety, since that is seen as the foundation of strong culture. I realized that when things did not go as planned, I could become overly aggressive, frustrated or harsh, which may have made others feel pressured rather than supported. In response, I have worked to be calmer, more understanding, and more patient so members feel psychologically safe speaking up, making mistakes, and engaging honestly, and don't react as defensively.

I have also practiced vulnerability as a leader by admitting that I did not have all the answers and by inviting members into the decision making process. Instead of assuming what the group needed, I held meetings where members collectively discussed and defined the goals of NHS. I listened to feedback, distributed surveys to improve E.D.G.E. Time, and adjusted based on what students shared. I opened myself up to more criticism and change, which I believe helped members feel more valued and connected.

Finally, I focused on building a shared sense of purpose, the final core principle of The Culture Code. I worked to promote service by making it feel meaningful rather than obligatory through redesigning activities to be more engaging, such as turning street cleanups into a game and creating a trash scanning and ranking app to make participation more enjoyable, emphasizing that what we do in NHS can be impactful but also fun. I also tried to build a purpose of service and leadership through teamwork. I've learned to trust others more by delegating responsibilities instead of doing everything myself, which empowered members to take ownership of their roles. While increasing engagement is still an ongoing process, these efforts have already helped NHS become more collaborative, inclusive, and purpose driven, and they continue to positively shape the culture of the organization.

10/23/25 Meeting Minutes NHS

"'The real courage is seeing the truth and speaking the truth to each other'... that is the culture"

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.

When I first read Solitude and Leadership, I immediately agreed with Deresiewicz’s argument and saw myself in it. Deresiewicz's argues that true leadership is built through solitude, where individuals develop independent thought, moral clarity, and the courage to stand apart from the crowd. Deresiewicz explains that many leaders are trained to follow expectations, achieve outward success, and conform, rather than to think deeply or challenge what they are told. For a long time I have believed in having my own voice rather than simply following the crowd, and I have never been comfortable doing something solely because it was ordered of me. I have always been a questioner, and I still spend a great deal of time in solitude thinking and reflecting. At the same time, I believe this year has shown me more than ever that true leadership requires balance, because while solitude is essential, not all answers can come from within and meaningful input from others is just as important. While Deresiewicz's speach describes those who can perform high and check off all the boxes given to them as hoop jumpers, although I agree with him on this sentiment, I still value high achievement and earning A’s, not because I like jumping hoops, but because they unfortunately remain a very big way to move far within the school system. I would say that while the independence and thinking is very much essential, there are often times where it is more than helpful if not required to be able to jump some hoops. This year, I have had to rely heavily on moral courage, standing by NHS even when students and fellow members questioned the value of what we do.

When I first read this speech, I strongly related to the idea that leadership is lonely at the top and assumed that it had to be that way. Over time, however, I have realized that while, yes, there are quite a few moments when a leader must stand alone, there are many more moments when others are willing to stand with me, and leadership also means allowing them to do so.

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