Jones-Fosu gives Greek members something to think about
Greek members are all about their letters.
What they stand for, what they mean, the pride behind them — the letters of a Greek chapter connect people from hundreds of different universities all over the nation. While the letters “COLL” may not represent a particular sorority or fraternity, they are the first four letters of two things monumentally important to all members of Greek life: college and collaboration.
Ian Bartlett | Argonaut
Through a mixture of inpiring words, fun songs, and interacting with students, Justin Jones-Fosu gave the Greek population of U of I some good ideas about how to work together to help each other and the campus as a whole.
Justin Jones-Fosu, a motivational speaker, was welcomed to the Kibbie Dome on Thursday to give the annual keynote address for this year’s Fall Leadership Campaign, supported by the Department of Student Involvement.
Jones-Fosu reached out to the 40 percent of the University of Idaho population that took part in “Anti-Hazing Week,” a week dedicated to stopping acts of hazing on college campuses across the nation.
Collaboration was the main focus of Jones Fosu’s speech. His main push was to get Greek members excited to collaborate with each other, other chapters and the campus community as a whole.
Jones-Fosu entered the stage by first asking the audience one simple question: “What are the benefits of collaboration?”
Answers such as bonding, different points of view and better grades were shouted out among the hundreds of students who turned out at the Kibbie Dome. Jones-Fosu agreed with the audience and said with collaboration comes “creativity and innovation like never before.”
Jones-Fosu asked participants to stand up and touch both sides of the section they were sitting in. Students everywhere began to scramble, trying to get from one end to the other and as everyone went back to their respective seats, Jones-Fosu pointed out an observation.
Everyone was going in the same direction. He presented a theory he said a lot of Greek members fall into — the Herd Theory. The idea is when there is danger, or a threat of danger, all species begin to go the same direction of their herd.
“But where is our herd leading us?” Jones-Fosu said to the students. “Is it leading us to unhealthy competition? Or healthy collaboration?”
Jones-Fosu said students eventually begin to become copies of one another, following the lead of their group or chapter. He said the audience should avoid the sameness.
“Be better than everyone by being the only you,” Jones-Fosu said.
He said although collaboration is important, he’s aware of its internal and external barriers. As he read off the different barriers, he asked everyone to raise their hand to the one they most closely identified with. As hands shot up and down, one barrier received the most attention.
“How many of you judge entire chapters based on one or two people?” he said.
Almost every hand in the audience was up in the air. Jones-Fosu linked stereotypes to other barriers that curb team development.
“How do we change our perspective?” Jones-Fosu said.
| Argonaut
Justin Jones-Fosu, founder of Justin Inspires, addressed the student population on Thrusday. His speech, mostly directed at the Greek population, made everyone laugh and get interested in helping and working together.
He shared a story about a fraternity member who brought a member of another fraternity to a party. All the house’s fraternity brothers looked at him and questioned the outsider’s presence, but the member ignored it to create a bond with another house. With that one act alone, Jones-Fosu said a domino effect among the brothers was created, and the barriers of collaboration began to come down.
“The goal of collaboration is that we actually work better,” he said.
Maddie Marx can be reached at [email protected]