A Brief Discussion on Leadership

My term as the President of the Software Development Club has come to an end. Over the past year, in addition to leading the club, I also served as the team leader for numerous group projects—such as Physics Inquiry, Chemistry Inquiry, and school-required courses. Throughout these experiences, I gained significant insights into leadership.

What Is Leadership?

Leadership is the ability to coordinate a team and guide them toward a shared goal. It typically demands strong leadership traits along with effective management strategies.

How I Manage a Team

Whether managing club officers or heading a group project, every team requires an explicit division of labor. In a club setting, roles must be clearly defined—who manages finances, who organizes events, and so on. Unclear authority and responsibilities must be strictly avoided. For instance, in my role as President and Instructional Lead, I refrained from interfering with the treasurer’s financial management. Doing so could weaken the treasurer’s authority and diminish their motivation.

The same logic applies to group projects. Tasks must be explicitly designated—such as who works on which presentation slide, or who takes on specific duties during lab experiments (e.g., recording data, operating equipment, or cleaning up). Consequently, my team was consistently the first in class to finish experiments and reports, maintaining an error-free record with zero data discrepancies.

Personal Reflections

Serving as a leader taught me a great deal, especially regarding the management principles mentioned above. Nevertheless, I recognize that I still have much to learn. For example, when a teammate failed to finish their task, I often stepped in to complete it myself. In practice, this should not happen: once responsibilities are assigned, the assigned individual should see them through. I realized that picking up the slack might inadvertently encourage members to disengage, relying on the leader to finish everything—a counterproductive dynamic.

Additionally, I encountered situations where certain members were unwilling to perform their assigned work. Although I should have held them accountable to finish promptly, I often reassigned their work to other team members and gave the uncooperative individual simpler tasks (like taking photos) to protect our overall efficiency and grades. In hindsight, this was not an ideal solution and remains a key area for my personal improvement.