Leadership is a team sport

By Rini Sampath, ‘16

This weekend, the 2015-2016 USG team and I traveled to the City of Industry for our annual fall retreat to kick off the year with team building activities, diversity training, and planning for our year of advocacy, programming, and funding.

The bad: I cracked my phone during the ice breaker activity (maybe taking the idea of ice breaking a little too seriously), so I’m working with a shattered phone screen and little glass shards in my thumb. Also it was unbearably hot — like 102 degrees hot, and there was some sort of crazy wildfire brewing behind our conference center, which left me uncomfortably joking about how glad I was we had everyone sign liability waivers.

One of our ice breakers where the team had to build a lego model without the most important communication tool: talking! 

The good and the great: Everything else.

This weekend made me feel so proud to know the 100+ members of our organization who are going to devote their lives to governance because they understand the impact it makes.

Before I delve into the nitty-gritty details of what we did at retreat this weekend, I want to give you a look at the structure of our organization and some fast facts.

We operate from a roughly $2 million budget, and besides funding student clubs and organizations, we fund the Volunteer Center, LEAD programs, recreational sports and other aspects of student life. Our budget goes towards the programming of concerts such as Springfest, speakers series, workshops, and more. Speaking of which, this Saturday is the Welcome Back Concert, hosted by USG’s Concerts Committee. Check it out here.

Our entire list of committees, assemblies and branches can tend to become a thick alphabet soup, so here are a few infographics to do the explaining:

Program Board is the programming branch of undergraduate student government, with nine assemblies and five committees.

Although our website is currently getting a face lift from our Associate Director of Technology, Frank Fink, you can still find information relevant to the different branches here: http://usg.usc.edu/

We kicked off our weekend with the teachings of author Simon Sinek, who gave this amazing Ted Talk on why every organization should Start With Why.

Every USG member then filled out their own “why” on a little worksheet, to help them keep in mind their purpose for serving on USG as the year progresses.

Here’s my why:

I do what I do because I believe every person deserves equal opportunity to live a happy life, with access to the resources that can bring them personal success.

We then defined success for our organization by the principles of John Wooden and his Pyramid of Success. Granted, Coach Wooden was the former UCLA basketball coach. Although they’re our rival, their basketball team has won numerous championships, and it’s my firm belief we’ve got to learn from our competitor’s best practices to keep our own teams as sharp as possible.

Although student government doesn’t quite compare to basketball as a sport, I consider student government and leadership in general as a team sport. It’s a philosophy one of my mentors, Dan Schnur, taught in a Leadership Studies class I took last semester and I stand by it. We set out to instill this commitment to teamwork in every member this weekend.

We explained how we expect each team member to apply the building blocks of the pyramid to their daily work. To experience John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success for yourself, check out this website, which will walk you through each component. One of my biggest goals this year, besides accomplishing the promises Jordan and I set out out to fulfill when we campaigned, is to create better leaders within our organization. Through the exploration of philosophies like John Wooden’s, and focusing on nurturing and appreciating those within USG, I believe we can do just that.

Retreat also pushed everyone to step outside of their comfort zone, especially when members participated in the privilege walk. The privilege walk, and the discussion that followed, encouraged members to open up about their past experiences and see the strength in each others’ differences. Our members come from all walks of life. For example, some earn full need-based financial aid, some are first-generation college students, and some cope with mental health challenges. These types of personal experiences make our members passionate about serving our community of diverse students. This weekend, I saw more than ever, how every person has a story, and that story is what drives many of them to sacrifice their time to lead.

Krystal and Kiara, our Director and Assistant Director of the Latino Student Assembly, taught our group about the constituents they serve. 

Once I got home from the City of Industry, I crawled into bed for an epic nap, but went right back to answering emails when I woke up. The rest of this week is a busy one. Just last night, we hosted our annual Campus Partners Dinner, where USG members connected with administrators from various departments on campus in order to build the relationships that will help us create tangible changes.

In the following week, I will speak to thousands of new freshmen and their families at convocation on Thursday, visit the Young Alumni Council for their meeting at the Widney Alumni House, plan for our PAC 12 Summit, and somehow manage to sneak in a rom-com on Netflix before bedtime. 

Although I have no clue exactly what’s in store for my final year at the best university on earth, I am so grateful to know I have so many amazing people to support me through it. The past couple of days wouldn’t have been possible without the help of the six other executive officers (and especially our exceptional Chief of Staff, Kaitlyn Hittelman, who took on much of the planning and execution).

I know I don’t always have all the right answers (trust me, I am often lacking in the basic tasks, like doing my own laundry). But, I can say with great confidence we have built a loving and passionate team willing to pour their hearts into the work they do in the coming year. These are the people I will depend on throughout the year to complete our mission of ensuring every Trojan’s voice is heard. After all, leadership is a team sport.

Photos by Joseph Chen and Mariya Dondonyan.