Ruck Reflection
My experience at Ruck was similar to my experience at LeaderShape. I went into the program having heard first-hand accounts from others who had previously attended, but I didn’t have high hopes. Yet again, I was blown out of the water. At Ruck, I was able to meet member of Sigma Phi Epsilon from all over the country. I had the opportunity to connect with the facilitators who came from all walks of life. The facilitators for Ruck have accomplished amazing things in their personal lives and were gracious enough to take time off to come to Richmond and help lead us toward similar successes.
Our team, the “White Team”, “Team Dub”, the “Cream Team”, etc., was incredible. Our facilitators made a daring proposal right off the bat. They asked us to yell “WOOH!” every time we walked through a doorway. Asking twenty 19-22 year old men to do such a task is risky. Many people would just stare at you or respond with “that’s not going to happen”. Our team was different though. We wanted the experience to be fun and goofy, so we went with it. That is a good overview of how our group worked and operated.
Ruck was comprised of several small group sessions, larger group sessions, and recreational activities. For recreation, we played Ultimate Frisbee. Our team wasn’t too great, but we had the best team spirit out there, and we had a lot of fun. The small group sessions were spent discussing the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership as defined by Jim Kouzes and fellow fraternity brother Barry Posner. Large group sessions were held by speakers with a limited amount of time to give. In the large group discussions, topics such as leadership techniques, nutrition, and SigEp history were discussed at length.
The White Team’s leaders, Brad Golson and Kevin Teets, were very young. At first, I was skeptical. What could these young guys offer me? I couldn’t have been more wrong. They were able to relate our topics to us and apply them directly to situations we were facing in our chapters back at school. The five topics covered were “Model the Way”, “Inspire a Shared Vision”, “Challenge the Process”, “Enable Others to Act”, and “Encourage the Heart”. We discussed each topic at length, covering how each applied to leadership as a skillset and how each could be applied to alleviate the shortcomings in our own chapters. A video summarizing each of the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership is provided below:
Ruck was comprised of several small group sessions, larger group sessions, and recreational activities. For recreation, we played Ultimate Frisbee. Our team wasn’t too great, but we had the best team spirit out there, and we had a lot of fun. The small group sessions were spent discussing the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership as defined by Jim Kouzes and fellow fraternity brother Barry Posner. Large group sessions were held by speakers with a limited amount of time to give. In the large group discussions, topics such as leadership techniques, nutrition, and SigEp history were discussed at length.
The White Team’s leaders, Brad Golson and Kevin Teets, were very young. At first, I was skeptical. What could these young guys offer me? I couldn’t have been more wrong. They were able to relate our topics to us and apply them directly to situations we were facing in our chapters back at school. The five topics covered were “Model the Way”, “Inspire a Shared Vision”, “Challenge the Process”, “Enable Others to Act”, and “Encourage the Heart”. We discussed each topic at length, covering how each applied to leadership as a skillset and how each could be applied to alleviate the shortcomings in our own chapters. A video summarizing each of the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership is provided below:
Another telling of the same story:
Nearing the end of the week, we sat down to flesh out our “Vision Statement” for our own chapters. My vision is to create a culture that is based on a particular set of values that will hold everyone accountable and responsible for their actions. SigEp has been facing many issues in the past few years. Members in our chapter are complacent and want to continue down the same path. I see the opportunity with a unified membership to achieve things no other fraternity thinks possible. With the talent pool available in SigEp, we have the ability to single-handedly take over the University of Cincinnati’s campus and become the strongest undergraduate fraternity in the nation. I hope that setting up an open, value-based culture is the first step down that path to excellence.