It Starts with Me




I felt the constant buzzing underneath my pillow.  

Waking up, I was puzzled by the 47 unread messages from my HOSA Board group chat. We'd just had a NBA athletic trainer as a guest speaker to cover sports therapy to our club members the day prior and as a token of gratitude, I'd tasked my secretary to write him a Thank You card. After he had sent it out, however, my treasurer noticed her last name was spelled incorrectly on the card. This typo ended up eliciting a long and rather immature argument, hence the 47 messages.  


I typed out a long paragraph, pointing out how childish this whole debacle was and how it needed to stop.  


My finger hovered over the "Send" icon before a thought crossed my mind. I suddenly remembered my youth pastor telling me a quote by former U.S. Navy SEAL Jocko Willink: `"There are no bad teams, only bad leaders."


Pondering over the situation, I deleted the draft and replied:


"Hey guys, no need to argue. The only one at fault here is myself. I approved the card before it was sent out, but I should've double checked it for any errors. Let's drop this and focus on the upcoming meeting."


My approach to the dispute would set the trajectory for the rest of the board.  If I invalidate the incident, I risk downplaying the situation and cultivating a board where grudges are held and misconstrued assumptions are made on one another.  Yet, as president I chose to assume responsibility, regardless of how severe or, in this case, how minor it seemed.  Ultimately, apologies were made from both sides and unity was achieved.  


Later, my treasurer told me how her last name had been misspelled countless times in the past and how people passively looked over the mistake. I felt every ounce of her frustration. A typo is nothing but a misprint for others, but for her, it carried far more significance. She further explained the rich Middle-Eastern heritage that followed her last name and how it embodies her respective culture and ultimately the family legacy.  I needed to shift my perspective in order to truly understand my fellow board officers.  


Robust leadership requires not just charisma, but the accountability and empathy to unify others. As a high school senior, this is crucial both now and later down the future when I segue into the drastically different atmosphere that is college.


Unlike high school where the student body usually consists of the local demographics of the region, university is made up of students from all walks of life trudging along all sorts of different paths.  


I will undoubtedly encounter peers with varying degrees of ideologies, morals, and cultures.  Instead of clashing, I could only hope to encourage them and build bridges that embrace our differences.  I will undoubtedly encounter peers who expect excellence out of me and I out of them.  Instead of succumbing to complacency, I could only hope to carry my load and in doing so, edify my peers to do the same.


Not to mention, how absolutely pivotal these skills will be when I begin a career in healthcare and interact with colleagues and patients.


If my binge-watching sessions of Grey’s Anatomy has taught me anything, it’s that a healthcare worker should expect chaos to ensue in every and any circumstance.  Though dramatized for the sake of good television, I have heard stories from relatives who are nurses and EMTs of the experiences they have seen and underwent in the trauma bay.  From tense dissensions among surgeons to disgruntled patients, chaos certainly does ensue.  It is in these times of disarray, where the ability to truly empathize with one another and to take control of the room in order to formulate a solution is absolutely pivotal.


Whether it’s a debacle of 47 messages between board members, the dynamic of college relationships, or the commotion that arises in a hospital, being equipped with the accountability to assume responsibility and the empathy to discern certain situations from different perspectives will allow me to emerge as not only a competent leader, but one that will exude love and respect anywhere I go.