Illinois Leadership Certificate ePortfolio

Leadership

VP of Illini autonomous vehicles (fall 2024 – present)

Serving as Vice President of Illini Autonomous Vehicles has taught me that leadership is less about having all the answers and more about empowering others to succeed. Our team here at UIUC is composed of students with highly specialized skills in areas like computer vision, flight control, and embedded systems. These fields fit together like puzzle pieces, making back-and-forth communication a crucial element to our group’s success. As a leader, I quickly realized that my role was not to micromanage technical details, but rather to create an environment where each member felt valued and motivated to contribute their expertise. After working with a large group of talented individuals, I learned that leadership is as much about listening as it is about guiding. For example, when we were evaluating different approaches to object detection for our autonomous drone, I encouraged the software and hardware teams to openly present their perspectives, even when they disagreed. By fostering open dialogue, we were able to merge ideas into a more innovative solution than either side had originally proposed. This experience reinforced that strong leadership comes from balancing vision with humility, setting direction, and also recognizing when the best path forward comes from the collective strength of the team.

One of the most challenging aspects of this experience has been aligning the goals of multiple subteams under one cohesive project vision. For example, during the early stages of planning for the SUAS competition, the mechanical team was focused on drone frame design while the software team prioritized simulation environments. A lack of communication caused our entire project to come to a halt. To navigate this, I organized cross-functional meetings where each subteam presented updates and dependencies, making it clear how their work fit into the larger mission. I also introduced shared project management tools so that progress could be tracked transparently across teams. We frequently utilize tools like Google Drive and Signal to stay organized and updated on our teams progress. This not only improved accountability but also gave members a sense of ownership beyond their immediate tasks. Every person plays their role and together we make focused progress towards a larger goal. While it required extra coordination, the result was a stronger sense of unity and a clearer roadmap to competition readiness. Through this challenge, I learned the importance of communication and systems thinking in leadership: seeing the “big picture” while making sure everyone feels connected to it.