Megan Riksen:

Hello and welcome to the Work Like a Laker podcast. I'm Megan Riksen, and we are here today to talk about leadership. So if you are a seasoned student leader, if you're just starting out, or if you're simply curious about what it means to be a leader, then this is the episode for you. College throws a lot your way. We know there's career, academic, social life, figuring out who you are. The list really does go on and on. But what if we told you that strong leadership skills can actually help you navigate many of those challenges? To help me tackle this subject, I would like to introduce Megan Rydecki, who is the director of the Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies. So, welcome Megan.

Megan Rydecki:

Hi. Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Megan Riksen:

Thank you for being here.

Megan Rydecki:

My pleasure.

Megan Riksen:

Why don't you just begin by telling us a little bit about yourself, how you got into the role, and then maybe share a little bit about the Hauenstein Center in general.

Megan Rydecki:

I'd love to. Great. first and foremost, I'm a double Laker.

Megan Riksen:

Yes. <Laugh>.

Megan Rydecki:

I got my bachelor's here, and then, in international relations, a master's in public administration. I was actually a part of the Peter C. Cook Leadership Academy, which I'll talk about later. You were at the Hauenstein Center.

Megan Riksen:

Oh my gosh, that's amazing.

Megan Rydecki:

So I always say, you know, not only only am I the director, I'm an alum, which is kind of fun.

Megan Riksen:

Very cool. Yes.

Megan Rydecki:

And I spent the better part of my career, so like over 20 years now, working in municipal government, international development, economic development, basically all the developments. Community development.

Megan Riksen:

Every development, <laugh>

Megan Rydecki:

Business development. I did a short stint in software and also in community relations.

Megan Riksen:

Wow. Was the software at the beginning and or middle?

Megan Rydecki:

Towards the end.

Megan Riksen:

Okay. Yeah. Interesting. That's kind of a shift from the other stuff.

Megan Rydecki:

Yeah. I took a break out. I had been working on building the tech industry clusters here in town. And was finding myself at the end of one role and had a relationship with one of the tech firms. And was friends with the president. He said, why don't you just come over and try it out and see what you think.

Megan Riksen:

That's awesome.

Megan Rydecki:

So it was pretty fun. I went from being literally like, suited up going to events every day, that sort of thing, to t-shirt and flip flops.

Megan Riksen:

It's amazing.

Megan Rydecki:

It, it was a nice -

Megan Riksen:

Like, am I in Silicon Valley? Like, what's going on here?

Megan Rydecki:

Yes! Just like that. There was a ping pong table in the basement and everything. <Laugh>. Yeah. A nice break and again, skills there that I never thought I'd be using, that I still use today, which is kind of fun. So.

Megan Riksen:

Yes. Well, that's always cool to hear. I like to hear the career trajectory. Even that was just like a quick little soundbite, but just I think students tend to get really hung up on, I have one major that translates into one job that I then have forever. And hearing you say skills and how that can maybe translate among positions in government, nonprofit, for profit. I think that's always good to hear that it's very possible to kind of make those leaps and jumps.

Megan Rydecki:

Absolutely. Everything is transferable these days. Just depending how you how you sort of present it and how you think about the experiences you've had, which we can, we can talk more about later. Great. so in my last role, I was in a corporate setting. It was a great position, but I just didn't really feel like the mission alignment was there for me. And that's something that for me personally is really important. So the role at the Hauenstein Center came open and actually had a recruiter reach out to me and I gave them all sorts of suggestions for people who I thought would be great for the role. And then at the end they said, well, do you think you might be interested in it?

Megan Riksen:

That's so interesting.

Megan Rydecki:

And I've said, oh, I don't know about that. And then the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. I interviewed and I've been in this role for a year and a half. So at the Hauenstein Center, essentially we're a, a mini leadership institute here on campus. Our mission is inspired by the life of Ralph Hauenstein to build a community of ethical effective leaders for the 21st century. So Ralph was a businessman, a war veteran. He was very instrumental actually in starting the CIA under Eisenhower during World War ii.

Megan Riksen:

I was just looking at your site and saw that. I was like, whoa. That's cool.

Megan Rydecki:

Yeah. And really amazing. A lot of people in West Michigan know him and most of them knew him just as a neighbor, a fellow church goer, a fellow board member before they ever knew about anything else that he had ever done. Very cool. Just one of those quiet steady leaders who showed up and was consistent and people had no idea about all these other things he'd done. In the early two thousands, he endowed our center, or maybe the late nineties endowed our center. And ever since then, the Hauenstein Center has been working to grow student leaders, grow community leaders, and also bring awareness and focus to the presidency, presidential history and issues around the federal government.

Megan Riksen:

Very cool. Awesome. Great. Well, yeah, you are an excellent guest then to have here to talk about leadership. Let's just kind of start, I'll start with probably a hard question 'cause there's probably a million ways to go with this, but how do you define leadership?

Megan Rydecki:

Sure, yeah. For me, the way that I would define it is leadership is really about using your best skills and abilities to harness the best in others and lead people together to some sort of intended outcome. So it really, for me, it really starts with knowing yourself. And knowing what you're best at. And showing up in that kind of a space.

Megan Riksen:

Yes. Very cool. Yep. I think that makes sense. So yeah, as we think about the population of students listening to this how do you think that college students can begin developing their leadership skills now, maybe even as a freshman, right? No formal positions, maybe an on-campus job or work at a restaurant or something like that. What are, what are some of those ways to get started?

Megan Rydecki:

First and foremost, again, I'll say it starts with knowing yourself. I think college is a really interesting time because for a lot of our students, it's the first time you're on your own. You don't necessarily have your family or your friends or your community sort of dictating and influencing who they think you are. And it's really a great time. It can be really challenging. But a great time to really sit down and start thinking about, okay, who am I? What am I? What am I about? What do I care about? What am I good at? Where could I use improvement? Absolutely. And thinking through those things. Mm-Hmm <affirmative>. But I think leadership on campus can really start anywhere. As you mentioned, on campus job. Eboards, student committee, student groups. And it doesn't mean you have to be the, the president of the group. It doesn't mean you have to be the manager. So much of leadership to me is showing up, being who you say you are, being accountable. And just hustling. Right. I think that is the fundamentals of leadership that you can then carry into all sorts of other roles and positions.

Megan Riksen:

Sure. Yeah. That makes a lot of sense. I think a lot of times it can be intimidating when you think, oh, I'm, I have to be the actual president. Of my student org to be considered a leader. But what if you're just the person who raises their hand for all of the things that come up that need to be done. That's leadership right there.

Megan Rydecki:

Yeah. Dependability, I think is such a good place to start. If you say you're gonna do something, do it. If you're gonna volunteer to be the scribe and send the notes out afterwards, send the notes out afterwards right away. You know, it's really simple things, but it makes a difference.

Megan Riksen:

Absolutely. Yeah. That makes sense. Good. Okay. So kind of along a similar line, but if students are feeling intimidated or unqualified, what advice would you give for how to like, get over that hurdle of like, ooh, I can be the one to maybe step up. Yeah.

Megan Rydecki:

Well friendly reminder that we're all humans. <Laugh>. Your professors, your bosses, your colleagues, all humans. And we've all had to do things for the first time. And college is a great place to do that. I'd also say rally your people. Right. Put yourself in situations where you have advocates and supporters around you. Find a mentor, whether, whether that's, you know, a professor or an advisor or a family member or someone in community. But find the people who can hold you accountable, who can, who you know will be on your team. And support you as you try things. But really again, college, it's a great place to just try stuff. You can do anything for a semester, right?

Megan Riksen:

Yeah. Maybe it's a total bust. And you don't like it at all. But yeah. It's a semester and then you can try something new the next time.

Megan Rydecki:

And then, you know.

Megan Riksen:

And then you know.

Megan Rydecki:

You know, for the next time.

Megan Riksen:

It's just really striking me as we're talking that so many of the concepts of leadership that you're talking about really apply to career and finding your career, finding what you want to do, how to actually go out there and make that happen. Like, there's so many parallels that we're talking about here, like the knowing yourself, the relying on others, having a network, those sort of things. So yeah. That's, that's cool. I like, I like that we're finding all these parallels.

Megan Rydecki:

Yeah. I think people think about expertise when it comes to leadership. And that, that's important. But that comes later in career. That comes later in life. And also, let's talk about life experience. Your own lived experience is also part of what can inform your leadership. If, if you grew up the oldest of five, you were probably some kind of a leader in your family.

Megan Riksen:

Oh my gosh, definitely.

Megan Rydecki:

Right? If you grew up in a community where neighbors could count on you to help with errands and do chores, things like that, that's leadership. You know, there are so many things about our lives. It's not just what we learn, it's not just what we study, but there are facets from every area of our life that flow into leadership.

Megan Riksen:

Absolutely. Yeah. I see that a lot with our student employees here in the career center that sure. They don't have the title of director of the career center that you would typically think, oh, that's the leader. But it's very noticeable when a student employee is engaged and wants to be here. And again, that dependability, as you mentioned, who is maybe knocking on my door saying, I don't have anything to do at the front desk today. Do you have any projects for me? Oh my gosh, what a valuable piece that you're then bringing to the office. So yeah. Finding those, those little areas to Yeah. Just kind of bring something to the table. Without necessarily being asked to do so.

Megan Rydecki:

Initiative is something that I was definitely thinking about. Not, not being the person that has to be told what to do. But looking for opportunities. How do you get ahead of things? What can you anticipate for others? That's, that's a huge part of this as well.

Megan Riksen:

Yeah. What can you make better? I feel like in any student org classroom, office on campus, anywhere, if you're the one who can be like, ooh, we could make that process a little bit better, I have an idea for that. And bringing that to your professor or you know, whoever you're working with in the student org, I think can definitely add value. Awesome. Good. Okay. What are some of the biggest misconceptions that students have about leadership?

Megan Rydecki:

One that we often see when we get applications for the Peter C. Cook Leadership Academy is a lot of students mention public speaking. Ah, and I think a lot of people envision leadership, people standing on stages, delivering speeches, delivering talks, things of that nature. Yes. At some point in your leadership career, depending on your experiences and what you do, it's very possible that people might ask you to share about that. But that's not all the leadership is. So leadership is not necessarily just being able to speak in front of crowds and not feel nervous doing that. I still, you know, 20 some years after finishing my collegiate career I still get nervous when I have to talk in front of big stages or big crowds. Right.

Megan Riksen:

Absolutely. That's just normal. Yeah.

Megan Rydecki:

So it's not that leadership is not also about something you do when you're old. You know, I, I think sometimes think I need a certain amount of years of experience or again, expertise or whatnot that's not necessarily true. You know, can you own the perspective that you have? Can you again, harness the best of your abilities and bring that out of others? Those, those are the things to be looking for these days. When you're starting out and when you're getting your feet under you. For sure. But it's not, it doesn't mean you have to be the CEO just because you're CEO that doesn't necessarily mean you're a good leader.

Megan Riksen:

That's a good point. Yeah. I'm sure you've encountered that throughout life, as have I that yeah. Sometimes the people with the most power could use a little lesson some leadership. Yeah. So for sure.

Megan Rydecki:

And again, I'll just reiterate, leadership doesn't only happen in career. It's also in your family, in your friend group. Yeah. In the clubs that you're a part of. Yeah. In your faith communities in your volunteer activities. Where we show up is, is a place for leadership.

Megan Riksen:

Awesome. Awesome. That's great. Okay. So yeah, let's talk about careers a little bit. How can college leadership experiences help students prepare for their future careers?

Megan Rydecki:

Number one thing I think of is examples for interviews. In interviews they always wanna know, "tell us about a time when you had to deal with a difficult circumstance. Tell us about a time you had to work with a group of people and how did you lead them?" I remember a mentee that I had a few years ago I was helping her prep for an interview. She was gonna be interviewing at the, I think the Target distribution center down in Kalamazoo, Portage. And she said, I just don't know what examples I'm going to use. I don't know what I'm doing right now that applies. And I said, aren't you part of a sorority? And she said, yes. I said, don't you hold an officer position, <laugh>? And she said, yeah, I'm the vice president of, I think, external relations. And I said, well, what does that mean? And she, she said, well, there's 45 people in the sorority and when we have our socials and other events, I'm always making sure that you know, from an external relations perspective, everything's good and that people are taking the correct safety precautions and managing people's behavior and all these things. And I looked at her and I said, that is so much leadership experience. I said, you're basically leading a small company as a vice president, in a really difficult area, you know, personal behavior and external relations. I said, that's an example you use. Right there.

Megan Riksen:

Right. Yeah. I think the interview questions are <laugh> yeah. Always tricky. But yeah, if you can reflect on certainly things you do in a job, but then Yes. In a sorority, in a student org, any sort of involvement that you have that that's where the good stories come from. Yeah, for sure.

Megan Rydecki:

Yeah. And again, I think leadership at this level on a college campus, it's a little bit of a softer landing if you do fail here 'cause we're all expecting that people are trying and that they're doing things for the first time and there's a lot of grace and there's a lot of support for when things don't go right. But I'd also say as you're looking for, you know, what your first sort of outside the university career move might be, you know, think a lot about the culture, you know, what, what is the personality of the kind of people that you're interviewing with? What's the ethos of the company? Do they seem to be innovative? Do they seem to be learners? Do they seem to have empathy? Those are all really important things. And even if you don't know, you go into your first job, it may not be your dream job, but you figure out what you like there, what you don't like, and then you use that, you learn everything you can, you take that forward.

Megan Riksen:

Yes.

Megan Rydecki:

And then you move to the next step.

Megan Riksen:

Mm-Hmm. We are constantly saying that here, <laugh> as well. Like that first job doesn't have to be perfect. Doesn't have to be your dream job forever, but yeah. What can you learn from it? That allows you to move forward. That's so good. Okay. So what do you think are some of those leadership qualities that employers might look for in a recent college grad? I know you work with lots of college students and that you've probably also worked with lots of recent alums. So yeah. What are some of those qualities you see or think are really important?

Megan Rydecki:

I think number one is work ethic. Are you willing to hustle? Are you willing to, to grind? And that doesn't mean that you should be in a job where you are, you know, forced to stay at your desk and sort of just -

Megan Riksen:

It doesn't mean you can't have work life balance.

Megan Rydecki:

Correct. But also, you know, do you take on the extra projects? Do you show initiative and ask for more things. Do you sign up for the extra committees? Employers wanna see that stuff. Absolutely. And if you're interested in advancing, if you're interested in compensation increases, that's the kind of stuff that they're looking for. How are you going beyond the job description? And so work ethic I think is number one. Let's be honest, there are many generational differences in the workplace. You will hear folks who are my age and older say well, when I was starting out, we, et cetera, et cetera. So I think one thing that's important for our students today is to help articulate how you view work. And the places that you are bringing value. If you happen to be on your phone, but it's because you're the social media manager and you're checking some stats or you're updating things. Make sure people know why you're on your phone. So they aren't sitting around wondering if you're playing games. Or if you're shopping, I don't know, some sale on Poshmark. But they understand what you're doing because it doesn't come first nature to some other generations in the workplace these days.

Megan Riksen:

I think that's really important.

Megan Rydecki:

So work ethic communication. I'll also say openness to feedback and constructive criticism. I think that's really important. When you're in a setting, are you showing that you wanna be better? That you want to grow? And can you also understand that if a supervisor gives you feedback, it's not necessarily because they're mad at you or they don't like what you've done, but truly every manager wants their employees to do better and to, to succeed. And that's very likely why they're doing it. They're not trying to embarrass you. They, they just want you to be the best at what you're doing.

Megan Riksen:

That's great. Awesome. Okay. I'm really glad you brought up the generations 'cause that is actually my last question for you. Have you seen a shift in the way that leadership is approached by Gen Z as they've really come roaring into the workplace? Compared to millennials and Gen X and all the other, I mean, we have, it's such a multi-generational workplace now. But yeah. How do you, how do you see leadership as kind of shifting and changing?

Megan Rydecki:

I think one thing that's been really interesting about generational shift in leadership is in the past I think there was a lot of emphasis placed on longevity and seniority. And the time that people have spent in roles and for newer generations and younger generations, I think it's very different. And so whereas in the past it might, we might say, oh, so and so has been here for 40 years. That's incredible. The institutional knowledge, all they've been through. I don't know if that's as impressive these days. When the average work, tenure is now what? Three years or less in a role. And so just thinking through what does that mean to different generations? How do they, how do they work through that? And also a lot of, a lot of issues that I think come with that is just issues of respect. And so it's so important to get to know the people that you're working with. We, we do all sorts of great personality type testing and whatnot. So using strengths quest. Or true colors. We use true colors in the Cook Leadership Academy. It's really important to know who are you working with. How do they operate? How do their brains work so that as you seek to communicate and be part of a team and be successful, you know how to work with the people around you. And so I think that's just one of the areas. But also in terms of longevity, I think there used to be a thing where employers were looking for people who would come and stay forever. Well, for many of us, we're not the stay forever kind of people. If you look at my resume even, I've had a lot of jobs. And I've enjoyed every one. But there's always been a next best thing where I thought I could best use my skills and that's what I have moved to. I don't think I'm ever going to be be a lifer in one particular role. Maybe with an organization. And I, that's something I'd encourage students too. If you really like your organization but you feel like it's time to maybe do something different, talk to your supervisor about a different role within the company or adding on a different set of skills or checking something else out new.

Megan Riksen:

Absolutely.

Megan Rydecki:

There's, there's always lots of options in a lot of ways to do things. And I think employers are becoming more aware of, of that so too that at least I hope so.

Megan Riksen:

I think so, yeah. A little more adept in navigating how to allow their employees to maybe move around. Even if that's external <laugh> to the organization. Yeah. I think that is certainly the case and hopefully continues 'cause it seems like the right direction. So. Good. Okay. That's all the questions I had for you. Okay. I think this was great. Any other things going on in the Hauenstein Center you wanna kind of give a plug for, for this coming year? You know, it's January, so, and we're, we're recording this before that, but yeah. The Cook Leadership Academy. When are, when are those applications?

Megan Rydecki:

Yeah, so those applications will be due probably about the third weekend of February. So just a reminder, that is a year long intensive leadership co-curricular program that we take our students on anywhere. You have to be at least a sophomore to participate, but all the way through our doctorate programs. So anyone is welcome to apply. There is an application process, but the program itself, I should back up a little. Yeah. consists of a series of self-reflection workshops where you really sit down and think about different facets of leadership, how they apply to you. Students get paired with a community mentor, so we basically ask them who do you wanna learn from? And that could be someone in their field, someone who's just had life experience that's similar to their own or different. And we go out in community and we comb through to find someone who exactly fits that.

Megan Riksen:

So it's not just a set list of here's our mentors. Pick one. We're gonna find -

Megan Rydecki:

We really try to match up the exact experience. So we've had city commissioners we've had neuroscientists, we've had doctors, we've had lawyers, I mean, but really specific people. So that's a cool part of it. And then of course you're invited to all of our public programming that we do from the Hauenstein Center, but it's a great way to compliment the other things you're doing. Activities generally take place on Friday afternoons when most students don't have class. And it's a great way too to be with like-minded people, different we try really hard to be cross-disciplinary. So I think we have 44 majors represented in the incoming cohort.

Megan Riksen:

And how, and that's how many students?

Megan Rydecki:

70.

Megan Riksen:

Wow. Okay. That's excellent.

Megan Rydecki:

So you really get to learn from a lot of people who are different than yourselves. But also a great way to sort of reach across different parts of the university and be with people in general who wanna be leaders, who wanna learn more about themselves, who wanna learn more about how they can maximize how they show up in the world. And we think that's really special.

Megan Riksen:

Perfect. Yeah. Awesome. I think that's a great place to end. Well, thank you so much for being here today.

Megan Rydecki:

Thanks again for having me. So fun.

Megan Riksen:

Absolutely. All right. And thank you so much to everyone for listening, and we hope you tune in to a future episode soon.