It is important for international students to acquire leadership skills in the course of their pursuit of academic excellence. These are skills many companies lookout for during recruitment exercises. It is, therefore, in the best interest of international students to acquire leadership skills and put those skills to judicious use.
Here are some tips to enable you acquire leadership skills as an international student.
1. Read Books
As an international student, it is important to develop a reading habit because you cannot be a leader if you don’t read. For this reason, a great deal of discipline and dedication is needed to stay consistent. So, feel free to visit the school library in order to read books on leadership. You can consider conducting some research to find essential leadership books to read.
2. Be Observant
Observing and evaluate what leaders around you do. For example, leaders within and outside your academic institution such as professors, student leaders, politicians, religious leaders etc. Find out what works for them and what doesn’t and attend the events they attend. This will help you understand how they make presentations, lead and organize themselves in public.
3. Build Yourself
You need to be honest in evaluating yourself to see where you need to make necessary improvements. Sometimes, students focus solely on their areas of strength but, improving on areas of weakness is equally important. If for instance, you’re not good at public speaking or socializing, addressing these deficiencies will do you great good. It is advisable that you get a mentor to be on your tail to ensure you stay on course.
4. Be Proactive
You need to sell yourself consistently by putting yourself out whenever the opportunity presents itself. Consider volunteering within and outside the university, this allows you to showcase your skills. Also, it will enable you to develop skills you never knew you had or could leverage on for societal good. Being proactive endears other leaders to you; don’t be surprised when people begin to look up to you. Essentially, the experience you will garner will launch you to your career.
5. Be open to Serve
As a student, you need to be open to serve. This is because leadership is people-oriented not self-serving. Your focus should be on adding value to people’s lives as well as the organization you are involved with. This is irrespective of the capacity you’re serving. International students acquire leadership skills from everyday life by making the best of every opportunity and challenge life affords them.