1 Chapter 1

An Open Letter to Students Entering the Change Leadership Course

“You have 168 hours in a week. What are you going to do with each and every hour? You cannot control everything, and if you try, you will go crazy. Of the 168 hours in a week, you should not expect perfection. The very essence of life is not knowing what is coming next, which is exactly what makes it so exciting to live.” -Marten J. Vandervelde, Beneath the College Jersey

My name is Katie Berkopec and I will be graduating this semester (just two weeks away!) with a Master’s Degree in Leadership Education. Currently, I am the assistant women’s soccer coach at Loyola University in Chicago. I have only recently accepted this position, and I can thank my experiences and relationships that I have made at Winona to this achievement.

Looking back to the quote I have started this letter off with – think about a week and break it down into hours; 168 hours to be exact. What truly do you do with your 168 hours that you have each and every week? Are you sitting in class having a discussion, are you at home cooking dinner, or are you out enjoying a social event with friends? No answer is wrong, but I do believe that we as human beings can manage and choose our time wisely in order to live a fulfilling life.

As a change leader, one must be able to look at the 168 hours they have and be able to figure out how they are going to serve others as well as themselves. It boils down to relationships. A leader must have a relationship with oneself, knowing your own brand, before you can service others. A self-brand is a word or phrase that describes who YOU are: how do others perceive you when you are not in the room? When you look in the mirror, what should be portrayed and how are others seeing that? Once that self-brand is discovered, serving others becomes the relationship you were longing for.
When I began this course, I could not have told you what my self-brand was. And even to this day, I have an idea of what my self-brand is, but the unique part about it is, that it can change and it will change based on my position and my relationships. A self-brand is who you are and what you want to strive for, but I also believe that it can be molded and shaped into what you truly want it to be and that may not be at the end of this course, but rather at some point later in life. And when that time comes, as Dr. Holmes likes to say, you will have a true “ah-ha” moment.
There are a lot of words on the paper right now, so what I need you to do is “warm up your gray matter” (famous words of Dr. Holmes), and start to ask yourself; why am I in this class, what is the purpose of taking this class, and how is it going to help me in the future? While you are thinking of how you will answer these, here are my thoughts on the three questions…

1. Why am I taking this class? Before I stepped foot in the classroom, I took this class because my advisor told me to take it and because the master’s program required me to take it as well. That is probably what you are thinking right now. But when I ask myself this question now, at the end of the semester, I can answer it more truthfully. I am taking this class because I want to discover who I am as a person, as a leader, and as a follower to others. The qualities and characteristics of a leader is something that I wish to learn and start to sharpen so that I can share these with others around me, specifically in my professional life as a coach.

2. What is the purpose of taking this class? When I read the title of this course, I thought we were going to learn how leaders have and will be changing in our society. After finishing the course, my outlooks were only partially correct because now I not only know the change that needs to occur because of leaders, but also why change is happening in order to best serve the followers involved. The other thing is that there are different approaches and avenues to go through in order to target your audience in the most appropriate way.

3. How is it going to help me in the future? Going back to day one, I wanted to check this course off my list of classes to take and to finally be done with the master’s degree program. Was I wrong in that thought process! This course takes you on a journey of self-discovery, motivation, perseverance, and achievement with yourself and others around you. The material and topics we discuss dig much deeper than the surface and can relate to every single hour that you have in your week of 168 hours. My future is endless because I am in control. When you can find who you are, you will accomplish great things because you drove yourself to those achievements.
The last thing for you before I depart is that I would have never told you that I would be sitting in an office, at a Division 1 school, in downtown Chicago. This class challenged me in my critical thinking skills, writing capabilities, and personal connections to the people around me. From my phone interview to on-campus interview at Loyola University, I implemented critical aspects of this course in order to sell my brand as well as sell how it would connect and mold well with the teams already set brand.
Believe in yourself, because you can accomplish great things. Remember those words, because one day you will be sitting in an office and be thinking, “I worked hard to be here. I was determined and motivated to get where I am today. And I know myself, thus I can lead others.” That is success, and one day your journey will lead you there like it did for me.

Good luck!