intro

Hi everyone. My name is Nicholas Angert I’m a senior at the Ohio state university I’m from a small town of about twenty thousand called Wooster it’s about halfway between columbus and Cleveland, I’m study human nutrition and trying to get a specialization in leadership so that after college ill have the ability to pursue my dream of becoming a public speaker and going out to elementary and high schools to teach kids about the importance of nutrition and physical activity and work to prevent body image and health issues later in life.

I’ve been in a couple of leadership positions over the years but one of my first experiences with leadership was when I was in high school I was sophomore and had just been moved up to division captain of my speech and debate team I was in charge of five other students there where people older than me and younger all looking to me to set the tone. The lessons that I really took way from my first taste of leadership was how to treat subordinates and what was and wasn’t appropriate behavior.  I made my first mistake by trying to be friends with everyone which was great and I had and still have a good relationship with them it simply undermined my authority and ability to lead because they no longer saw me as a captain and leader but as a friend and equal, it was hard to really enforce rule because they were my friends now and as a result the team suffered, I find my experience summed up by  Sun Tzu in the Art of War, by the quote “When the loyalty of the men is secured, but punishments are not enforced, such troops cannot be used.” And that’s what ended up happening to my team I wanted to be liked more than I wanted to lead. It was a valuable lesson to learn and in leadership positions since then I have always been kind to the people that I lead but there is now a clear line that I don’t cross.

The takeaway from my experience is that you should be friendly and treat everyone with respect but at the end of the day you’re there to lead.