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Since it was founded in 2018, the Leadership Experience And Development (LEADS) for Success Program has helped dozens of Merage School undergraduate students learn highly valued soft skills that will serve them throughout their education and career.

It was started with the belief that Merage School undergraduates could benefit from a program that develops important skills, values and leadership abilities outside of the classroom. Designed to augment the excellent undergraduate education at the Merage School, LEADS delves into topics like relationship-building, communication, resilience, and imposter syndrome so that students develop the confidence to be their authentic selves.

“In order to have a strong professional career, it’s important to build a strong personal foundation,” said Sandy Lee, Assistant Director of the Alumni Experience Center. “So this is all about building that person from the ground up.”

The infant days of the program were similar to a lean startup, with just a quarter’s worth of content. But after receiving positive early feedback, the founders quickly realized that LEADS provided important and useful guidance for students. Now, up to 75 students apply for the program annually.

“Over the years we have had so many students talk to us about their experience and what they’ve learned and how it helped them grow,” said Steve Cooke, Committee Chair and Mentor. “It’s really rewarding to see them mature over the course of the program. Their confidence is so much greater by the end.”

Students enter the program for two years and develop skills like networking, resiliency,  collaboration, communication, interpersonal skills, problem-solving, time management, personal branding, and leadership. But they aren’t just thrown into the mix, students are provided with a tailored, personal form of guidance that takes into account the various difficulties associated with learning these skills and attributes.

For instance, Cooke and other program leaders remove the fear associated with networking and put students in a safe environment to practice relationship-building. Students receive encouragement and are provided with the tools to deal with rejection.

“No one likes rejection,” Cooke said. “But you’re going to be turned down in your career, so we show students how to accept that it’s not personal and recognize their emotions. This normalizes the experience.”

This personalized approach is particularly beneficial for the transfer students in the program, who represent a significant portion of the LEADS membership. Learning in a comfortable environment is crucial for students who have left their home country.

Lee said these students already feel like they are behind others who have attended the university since they were freshmen and had more time to develop their connections at the school and take advantage of resources. At LEADS, transfer students are provided with an encouraging environment where they are surrounded by like-minded individuals who are all given the opportunity to grow their skills and be part of a supportive environment.

“LEADS has been the place where they feel they belong,” Lee said. “There is a real sense of community.”

The curriculum includes about nine workshops a year and Cooke makes an effort to connect with the local business community by bringing in executives and other business leaders to campus to speak with students. This gives students an opportunity to network and learn how to interface with potential future employers.

The program ends with a reception that focuses on the LEADS students, who each take the initiative to invite alums, speakers, professors, and others to the event. Program leaders walk students through the process of running the event along the way, including how to send invitations and meet guests. The event gives students a chance to utilize many of the skills they’ve learned during the program.

During this year’s reception on May 17, program leaders and students celebrated the fifth-year anniversary with the introduction of a new Servant Leader Award. Alumni Ashley Chen ’20 from the inaugural cohort, and Sam Yosafi ’20, were honored for their extraordinary contributions to the Merage School as a result of their continued involvement with LEADS after going through the program.

The award highlights an important component of the LEADS experience—the mentoring of first-year students by those who have completed or are in the second year of the program. Many of these mentors are highly committed to their students, like Chen, who balanced her role with the program while working a full-time job and earning her MBA.

“Ashley and Sam have shown incredible commitment to these students and found the time to pass on their perspective and knowledge that they can use as they progress in their careers,” Lee said. “Our alumni are extremely generous with their support of our younger students.”

Cooke and Lee are planning the future of the program. They’re hoping to add site visits as part of the quarterly workshops, where students can visit corporate offices to get firsthand perspective of the business world. Turning LEADS into a student organization is in the works so they can qualify for funding to offer additional programs and activities like the proposed site visits. Students sometimes are unable to attend the annual reception and team building activities due to limited transportation options so becoming a club will help alleviate that roadblock. Expanding the program’s leadership and finding additional support are also potential areas of growth.

“It’s been a very rewarding experience to work with students and see their maturity and growth through the years,” Cooke said. “We are excited about the future of LEADS and will continue to evolve so that students are prepared to be leaders in a global marketplace.”

For more information on LEADS, visit https://merage.uci.edu/leads/index.html.