- A highly interactive kick-off conference on Saturday, October 3 with honored guests and members of the senior administration.
- A one-to-one professional coaching program focusing on the creation of a personalized developmental plan to help you maximize your strengths and build on areas that need development. (You will meet with your coach 4x during the year.)
- Three 90-minute in-depth educational workshops on topics like how to inspire and empower others, conflict resolution and negotiation, and communicating your organization’s vision.
- Two optional alumni networking dinners.
- A private dinner with President Hockfield to hear her views on leadership and to participate in an interactive discussion with key alumni and members of the senior administration.
- A professional network of 50 peer and 25 world-class alumni leaders; relationships that can help launch a career!
- Have you determined your own leadership capabilities? Do you know your own leadership strengths and areas for improvement? Have you developed a plan for feedback, assessment, and continuous improvement?
- Can you articulate your goals? Have you defined how your organization, committee, living group, class project team, fraternity/sorority, or sports team needs to change to keep pace in this ever-shifting climate? Have you connected “where you are” to “where you want to be”? Have you crafted a strategic plan to take you there?
- Will you keep improving your people skills? Can you motivate and inspire team members to work together to realize your vision? Can you earn—and keep—their trust along the way? Will you empower those around you to act as leaders?
- Are you consciously building your legacy? What do you want to leave behind when you graduate? How will you transition leadership of your group before you leave? Are you preparing to cultivate and empower other students to become future leaders on campus?
Learning Agreement
The following list of expectations is specific to the Community Catalyst Leadership Program and is articulated for the purpose of complementing or clarifying certain aspects of the program. By participating in this program, you commit to:
1. Attending the workshops. Three workshops are scheduled during the program year. The December workshop is required. Participants are also expected to attend one of the two workshops offered in February.
2. Participating to the best of your ability in the optional programs: October workshop, November Networking Dinner, Dinner with President Hockfield, Forum Dinners in April.
3. Engaging with and getting to know your cohort of fellow Catalysts to the best of your ability.
4. Scheduling monthly interactions with your coach. At least three of these over the course of the program year should be in-person.
5. Working towards and reflecting on the learning outcomes/goals of the program:
* Understanding the value of relationships, networks, and context in leadership practice.
* Developing leadership learning goals and practice new patterns of behaving, influencing, and communicating.
* Defining key strategies and key relationships that will move vision into reality.
* Reflecting on the nature and process of leadership and your personal leadership competencies and styles.
* Seeking feedback from a variety of people about your practical application of the concepts you discuss and reflect on in your daily life as a student leader.
* Taking time to identify and articulate what skills and experiences you have had that have prepared you for the various roles you will take on and contexts in which you will lead your life.
Jed Wartman
Assistant Dean for Student Activities
Student Activities Office
(617) 253-6777
jwartman@mit.edu