While at a professional baseball game with friends this past spring, I came across statues of historic baseball players. They were beautiful statues that depicted the legendary players’ most notable stances while they had played. While staring at these iconic figures, I asked one of my friends, “If there was to be a statue made of yourself, what would you want to be in it?”
My friend (who isn’t a professional sports player) could not answer the question right away. For leaders on a sports team, it is easy to pick a frozen version of yourself that will last hundreds of years, especially if you are constantly seen in a certain stance or position on the field. For someone who is a leader for a campus organization, it is a little harder to pick.
Think to yourself about what you would want in your own statue. If you’re having trouble finding the answer to this question as well, just use these three tips:
- Think of two or three values, on which you base most of your decisions
- Think about what you’re passionate about, or what you are involved with on campus
- Envision yourself aligning your values with your actions, and contributing to the greater good of the whole community. How do you Raise the Tide in this vision??
If there was to be a statue made of me: I would love to display my values of enthusiasm, positivity, and hope by showing a statue of myself helping to guide the student leaders around my campus during a workshop, with a big smile on my face.
Our values guide the decisions we make on a daily basis. While we know that we will not all have statues made of us, we all hope to have our visions of success become reality. It’s important that we consider our values when deciding what success looks like for ourselves.
When defining a vision of success within your campus organization, be sure to find the common values of the team. This will help you create that shared vision of success for an awesome event put on by your organization. By making the effort to find out what each of your organization’s members value, you will show them that they themselves are valued. Thus, you can build a specific culture within your organization that makes everyone feel welcomed, connected, and engaged.
And who knows, you may just bring that disengaged member of the team out to the dance floor by finding out what is important to them. Many times it is not a matter of whether someone likes to dance. Instead, it is a matter of what music they like to dance to, or what music they value.
