Rough Sailing on the Seven C's

Implementing social change is not easy. If it was, we would all be living in the perfect utopia of a world. However, I find that the effort you put in to overcome obstacles is usually worth it in the long run. As the saying goes, "Nothing worth having in life comes easy." This is caused by the fact that the problems that need to be affected by social change are usually deep-rooted and take more than one person scratching at the surface to have any long lasting, positive effect. The book, "Leadership for a Better World" describes the Social Change Model of Leadership and the Seven C's: Consciousness of Self, Congruence, Commitment, Collaboration, Common Purpose, Controversy with Civility, and Citizenship. These seven individual, group, and community values must work together to cause social change.

Take Acacia Fraternity as an example. Acacia holds ties to the Masons, a distinguished organization that is now viewed as an extremely secretive cult whose purpose is shrouded in mystery. Through history, Acacia has struggled to keep these ties intact. At first, only Masons were admitted to the fraternity. Subsequently, Acacia voted to accept members who simply pledged that they would become a Mason and in 1933 the Masonic prerequisite was done away with altogether. This change was necessary to enable the fraternity and its motto, "Human Service" to stay intact, thus bringing about greater social change.

On a small scale, one may think of a member of Acacia Fraternity at Ohio State affecting the fraternity and affecting the Greek Community at Ohio State. On a larger scale, one can see this same member affecting the Acacia International Fraternity and thus affecting the world. A member of Acacia Fraternity must have Consciousness of Self, Congruence between his words and actions, and Commitment to his passion to become a successful leader. Then through Collaboration with his brothers and Controversy with Civility, which breeds new ideas and changes, the group can share the same Common Purpose of Human Service. This ideal can be seen through the Citizenship that Acacia Fraternity members exhibit in their community. Through Seven Days of Service, Acacia Claus, and local philanthropy events and community service projects, members of Acacia strive to help the patients of Shriners Hospitals for child burn victims and other noteworthy causes.

It comes down to a numbers game. One person can have an effect on dozens of individuals who form a group and that group can affect hundreds of people in a community. However, it does not stop there. These hundreds of people motivate the individual, thus refueling and shaping his or her life so that even greater social change can occur. In this way, one person can make a difference in the close to seven billion people that inhabit the world.

Welcome

Hi, my name is Andrew. I'm a senior studying mechanical engineering at The Ohio State University. I have been a member of Acacia Fraternity since my freshman year. The fraternity is what sparked my interest in leadership. I have held the positions of Treasurer, Head of Recruitment, Social Chair, and President, as well as participating in many leadership retreats and academies. Contrary to what is generally portrayed in the media, I see my fraternity as a way to implement social change. I already have the advantage of being surrounded by individuals who share the same beliefs and values as me, which allows us to focus on finding solutions for problems rather than finding common ground and goals among ourselves first.

I never thought I'd find myself blogging. It just seemed like another time consuming Internet phenomenon such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and email, that already rule most of our lives. As an example of how our lives seem to revolve around these four items, the first hit on Youtube when you search 'social change' is a link about Twitter, How To Use Twitter To Effect Social Change. (Note the typo of using 'Effect' and not 'Affect' as well, which just shows how technology does not always make us more intelligent). However, I still have found myself following comedic, but useless blogs such as 27bslash6, which is a fine example of why I believed blogs were a waste of time. As a result of this, my blog will neither be comedic (unless appropriate) or useless. I introduce you to Andrew McGowan's Leadership Blog.