ABSTRACT
Umran, when did you fi rst realize you were a leader, and what happened to make you realize it? In my school years, in Turkey, I was into folk dancing. My interest in folk dancing started in primary school and continued in high school and my time in university. I became very involved with the folklore club, but my involvement went beyond just practicing and performing. I was part of the team that coordinated activities, and, by the end of high school, I was the president of the club. We had performances in school, but we also participated in competitions outside of the school. Among other things, my job included recruiting people to the club. I also needed to put together a managing team, set a performance agenda, obtain funding from our school management, engage in outside fundraising, enter the dancing teams into competitions, put a communication plan in place, and so on. The team and I had to demonstrate that the club was adding value to the student membership. This was my fi rst experience in leadership. Of course, I continued with folk dancing when I went to university; and, again, I became president of the club. We had about 200 members. And although we were a small organization, I understood the responsibilities of leadership and the importance of delivering results. Again, I was involved in many aspects of leading people: Deciding on an agenda, making sure that the various subcommittees-dance, music, costumes, and the like-operated as they should, communicating with the leadership of the school and external bodies, sorting out the politics of running the club, moderating confl ict between individuals, and so on. I learned a lot from this experience. I received a rector award for my academic achievements and social contributions to student life at the end of my time at university. Providing direction to the club and collaborating with others to achieve great results was really rewarding. And at that point I thought, “This is leadership, right?”
