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The most important element in any startup is it's leadership team, and a student group is no different. The leadership team is the flagship of the operation, and in the early stages, finding the right people may mean success or an early end to your journey. Here are some tips and tricks to make sure that your people are the best people for the job.

When choosing who will assist you in the leading of your student group, look for people who already know what it means to have the responsibility of being in charge. All too often student groups fall apart after the first few months because the initial excitement of the startup fade, and the actual work starts. Many people believe that they have leadership skills, but forget that leaders are also some of the biggest doers on the team. When the group jumps from 10 to 50 people, and email-lists need to be managed, meeting places need to be secured, events need to be ran, and faculty/community relationships need to be attended to, un-experienced leaders might break under the pressure or think that their job is done. During any interview with a prospective leadership team member, focus on their previous leadership experiences. Ask what difficulties they experienced and how they overcame them. Did they have a mission that they were trying to complete? Competition they were looking to sweep? How did they manage their team? How did they overcome adversity? Although there are some inherintly talented leaders out there, they are few and far between.