Charlie Gibbons
Senior 15 May 2006

           It’s here—graduation. I’ve scaled Ithaca’s East Hill, uphill both ways, for four years. I’ve grown tremendously as a person. In particular, I have learned a great deal about leadership. Before writing this essay, I reread my submissions for the previous three years. My first major leadership position was as treasurer of my fraternity, a post that I held for two consecutive years. In this capacity, I began to hone my interpersonal skills and comprehend the level of responsibility and persistence necessary to manage a $150,000 annual budget. The most significant lesson of my junior year roles was the importance of organization and clear communication. I also realized that a leader must demonstrate initiative and creativity. During my senior year, I hoped to merge all of these qualities together in order to leave my fraternity’s proverbial woodpile higher than I had found it.
           My freshman year witnessed the graduation of nearly half our brotherhood. Unfortunately, my pledge class and the two subsequent were not as large as we had desired. I realized that our house lacked a comprehensive recruitment strategy, the result being small pledge classes. Certainly, the men that did join were excellent; we just needed more such candidates. A further decline in membership would strain the viability of our chapter.
            During my sophomore year, as the house lost a sizable portion of dues-paying brothers, I took on the challenging role of house treasurer. My goal was to create a sustainable financial system that did not place too great a burden on the wallets of our brothers. I developed new funding opportunities for the house by leasing unused parking spaces and renting house reception facilities to other student organizations. Because of these new income streams, I was able to maintain the house’s budget with only a small increase in dues. Having placed the house on stable financial footing, I wanted to revolutionize our recruitment process so that the house can grow, both now and in the future. I ran for and was elected as the recruitment chairman.
            Leadership is both most difficult and most rewarding in times of difficulty. A leader is able to make great strides forward in these situations, but outcomes are far from certain. Failure is costly, though success is glorious for the organization. These special challenges enticed me to apply my abilities where need was the greatest, hence my roles as treasurer and rush chairman. Acceptance of these responsibilities imparted stress and anxiety—the future of our house depended upon increasing our membership.
           As rush chairman, my biggest goal was to formalize and structure our recruitment process. Previously, it had been rather unorganized and haphazard. I began by creating a list, consisting of friends of brothers, of potential rushes. I encouraged brothers to meet new people and update our master list with their information. We made sure to contact these men in order to invite them and their friends to house functions, including our successful fall philanthropic event, Music for Life. Additionally, we provided these individuals with information about our house and the rush process. This practice afforded potential members the opportunity to learn about our fraternity and recognize how joining would be beneficial to their personal development.
            I also needed to help the chapter learn what recruitment meant. Rush is not about cold, hard sales, but rather engaging our friends in the house. To help cultivate the correct recruitment mindset, I invited representatives from our international headquarters to come speak to the chapter on this topic in the fall and during rush week. These individuals clarified the roles and responsibilities of brothers towards recruitment and provided many useful suggestions. Their ideas and those of our members combined to create our recruitment strategy.
           Motivating the brothers to be active and enthused during rush week was a critical task. I arrived in Ithaca in advance of rush week to make purchases and to clean the house. I wanted the brotherhood to be motivated and excited, a mood hardly cultivated by making them scrub floors and run errands upon their arrival. I set a high goal for the week, the recruitment of fifteen new
members, and promised that we could reach it. Despite its exhausting nature, encouragement and a positive attitude made our brothers relaxed and excited about rush week.
            Upon reflection, leadership requires three main skills: Organization, initiative, and teamwork. My post as recruitment chairman challenged me to excel in all those faculties. But were we successful? I set a goal of fifteen new members; our international and elder organizations wanted ten. This semester, we initiated eleven new brothers, the largest class in four years. It is a class of exceptional men, including two MFCNS members, and promises to lead the house forward in a positive and productive direction. I am very proud of our accomplishment. Our international chapter so admired our work, they mirrored many of our techniques in the new national recruitment strategy. They named the new program The Cornell Plan as an homage to our chapter’s efforts. I encouraged the incoming class that, while this year resulted in the largest pledge class in the last four years, there is no reason that it cannot be the smallest in the next four.
           Belonging to a fraternity generates a deep love for the organization. At our chapter meetings, I look around and see a room full of guys that I am proud to call my brothers. I want to see this organization succeed not only today and tomorrow, but for pledge class after pledge class. Though the seniors will be leaving come the end of May, we have ensured that our knowledge will not be lost. We have spearheaded efforts to reevaluate our by-laws, suggesting changes based upon the problems that we have encountered over the past few years. Additionally, we, along with the rest of the brothers, formalized our transition process by creating detailed officer binders for each position in the house, recording the duties and nuances of each position to ensure success. We do these things not for our own aggrandizement, but to help the brotherhood succeed in the future.
           Every new experience teaches new leadership lessons. These lessons are only evident when an individual steps back and examines his successes and his failures in a broad context. So often people forget to take this perspective and thus they lose some of the best feedback that they can get about their leadership abilities. People must learn to reflect upon their accomplishments so that they can improve their skills and become more successful. This reflection will always be an important way for me to develop and hone my faculties and I appreciate the opportunity to share these lessons with you.