Leadership is a word we hear often, especially in BBYO. Whether through BBYO or another organization, you have probably had to lead something. What does it mean to me to be a leader? Communication.

I have chaired dances, been on multiple steering committees, participated in ILN task forces, and have held two chapter board positions. Communication is is the most important quality I have found a that good leader needs during my short experience in BBYO and life in general.

Communication is stressed to us by our advisors, over and over, AND over again. Without it nothing functions, nothing gets done. A majority of world leaders agree with me. When 195 figureheads around the globe were asked to rank leadership qualities, almost fifty percent agreed that open communication was imperative.

This tossed around phrase, “communicate with each other”, means a myriad of things. It encompasses everything from checking up on each other’s progress to saying if you can not do something. One example I have of the necessity of communication was in my school’s newspaper where I am the co-editor of the news section.

My co-editor and I assign articles every month, which we then divide between the two of us to edit and put on our individual pages. I have pages 6-7, and she has pages 8-9. A lack of communication led to the same article being put in the paper twice, once on page 7 and again on page 9. Luckily, the mistake was caught by our superior before it was printed, but it was a valuable lesson for both of us.

In this instance, I failed at my job all because I did not communicate about specifically needed to be on each page. That is why in all situations you need to constantly be talking.