Recipe for Success
Hastings College graduate enhances her leadership with humility
By Ana Ribero, editorial assistant

Mix a pound of character, three tablespoons of courage, and a pack of friends. This is the recipe for successful leadership, as told by experienced campus leader Shannon Nix. Add five cups of humility and three cups of trust, and then let it rise. Nix knows all about what is needed to be a great leader because she’s been one for most of her life. “I think it’s really important for college student leaders to learn and understand that in order to be a great leader you must also learn how to serve and how to be a servant,” says Nix, a recent graduate in political science and speech communication from Hastings College in Nebraska.

Nix received the 2002 National Leader of the Year Award from Omicron Delta Kappa, a national leadership honor society, and she was avidly involved in her college. She was president of the College Republicans, student delegate to the College Board of Trustees, news anchor for the Hastings student TV station, dance team member, and cheerleader among other things. Her list of accomplishments reflects a well-rounded student who takes pride in herself and her college. “In a small school you pretty much know everyone,” Nix says. “This gave me the opportunity to get involved in whatever I wanted.”

Through her leadership experiences, Nix has looked at Jesus and Mother Teresa as role models. “Mother Teresa was an amazing woman of purpose,” Nix says. “She had an incredible impact on the world. She led with nobility and integrity.” Nix learned humility—a principle of servant leadership—from her role models. Humility has helped her to reach out to people of all walks of life. She also learned that it’s necessary to count on people, a concept that she struggles with every day. “I need to learn to trust that others will do a good job,” she says. “I try to do everything on my own, but I spread myself so thin that I get very burnt out.”

Nix was born and raised in McCook, Nebraska, and says that it was the small-town environment that shaped her into who she is today.  Her mother and father had a great interest in the news events of the nation and of the world and Nix developed a natural curiosity for politics as a result. “I grew to love politics and became very interested in them,” she says. “It was a natural major for me to choose.”

At Hastings, Nix was once again in a small-town situation, with small class sizes and one-on-one professor relationships. The most memorable aspects of her years at Hastings are the friendships she built with people she cares for and admires. She considers these relationships to be vital to her success as a leader because they not only supported her through tough times but also held her accountable for decisions she was making. “Sometimes leaders can be the loneliest people in the world,” she says. “You get elevated onto a pedestal by the position that you hold, and if you don’t have a core group of friends to care for you and support you, it can be really hard.”

Nix currently has an internship with the National Student Leader Forum for Faith and Values, where she teaches the principles of leadership used by great servant leaders such as Jesus, Gandhi and Mother Teresa to university student leaders nationwide.  Although she doesn’t know what the future holds for her, Nix says that all she’s learned so far will help her to be a better leader. “In any career I chose to go into, the principles that I’ve learned about servant leadership will definitely be applied.”

Throughout her active life, Nix managed to remain motivated and passionate about what she’s doing. She credits her strong faith in God for giving her the strength, structure, and spirituality that she needs to succeed. “I’m a firm believer that for my well-being and health I need to be balanced in mind, body, and spirit,” she says.

Contact Nix at 301-455-3090 or nixshannon@hotmail.com.

Copyright © 2005 Oxendine Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved