Have you noticed something different about the blog at the O∆K website?
The content is changing. In addition to updates about the programs, initiatives and future of the Omicron Delta Kappa Society, we are increasingly adding content about leadership development and O∆K’s partnerships with leadership organizations. We have renewed our membership with NASPA and specifically NASPA’s Student Leadership Programs Knowledge Community which is co-chaired by Society Board of Directors member Matt Clifford from Wake Forest University. We have joined the Association of Leadership Educators and the International Leadership Association this summer as well.
In late July, I had the pleasure of attending the Association of Leadership Educators conference in San Antonio with O∆K’s new Leadership Consultant Frank Krimowski. During our trip, we had the opportunity to visit with faculty and student officers from our Trinity (Texas), Georgia Southern and Miami (Ohio) circles. We also listened to a number of great presentations about various leadership development theories, assessment tools and research on innovative practices to enhance student learning.
As O∆K is preparing to add expanded leadership development content on our redeveloped website, the timing for us to attend the conference was perfect. Throughout the 2014 – 2015 academic year, I will be writing in this blog about different books, speakers, inventories and organizations that might be good resources for our members and circles to consult as leaders strive for continual improvement.
One of conference’s best speakers was Jim Kouzes of Santa Clara University (SCU). Kouzes, the Dean’s Executive Fellow of Leadership at the Leavey School of Business at SCU, and Barry Posner, also of SCU, authored a book in 2009 entitled “The Student Leadership Challenge.” It is a companion book to their ground-breaking book, “The Leadership Challenge”, and it is used extensively by leadership educators. “The Leadership Challenge” was originally published in 1987 and was re-released in its fifth edition in 2012 in time for its 25th anniversary.
Both books outline practical applications of the exemplary practices modeled by exceptional student leaders and others in leadership positions including:
- model the way;
- inspire a shared vision;
- challenge the process;
- enable others to act; and
- encourage the heart.
To learn more about this model of leadership development, check out video located here.
This past week, we posted a blog entry from O∆K’s National Student Vice President, Parker Vascik, about the leadership lessons he is learning from his experiences on the Mongol Rally. This coming Friday, Jesse Chen (a new member of the O∆K Society Board of Directors, will be posting a blog. The following week, Steven Fulmer, one of the speakers from the 48th Biennial Convention and Centennial Celebration, will be our guest blogger. Both leaders will be discussing the fact that we leaders definitely make mistakes. However, both note how we try to avoid and recover from our errors of being human.
Lastly, the month of July saw the passing of one of the greats in leadership studies. James MacGregor Burns, the 2004 recipient of O∆K’s Laurel Crowned Circle Award, was initiated into the University of Maryland, College Park Circle of our organization. He was a great historian, political scientist and author. He was the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award in History and Biography for his work on President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The O∆K family, as well as the University of Maryland family, will miss him much.
