An Entrepreneurial Approach to Delta Sigma Pi’s Professional Agenda

At the end of last semester, I was initiated into Delta Sigma Pi; an international business fraternity with a mission to further develop students of commerce to be more networked, whole business people that work to grow the value in their communities. After being initiated, my ambitions for my chapter expanded far beyond just being a brother. I wanted to create change in Delta Sigma Pi at the University of Central Florida, I wanted to create differentiation.

So, naturally, I started by running for an executive position within the fraternity: Vice President of Professional Activities (VPPA), a role that operates as the professional pillar of the chapter and plans professional events for its brotherhood. The process of realizing the change I wanted for this position began rolling before I was even elected.

I started by interviewing three members of the fraternity about the position. Firstly, the current VPPA; I wanted to know what the state of the position was after coming back from the pandemic. What was difficult? What was thriving? What were the position’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats? It was important to know this before I ran for the position so that I could deliver a clear vision to my chapter, which would in turn effectively communicate my fit for the role.

Shortly thereafter, I interviewed the longest standing brother of the chapter who had not served in that position. What did the professional pillar provide them that was palpably beneficial? What did they feel VPPA’s often missed the mark with? What did the collective chapter need and/or still want from the pillar? The purpose of these questions was to be fluent in my target market’s needs and wants. To know what had to be done, and what could be done.

Finally, I interviewed the Chapter President about the role. Where does this pillar fit into your vision for Delta Sigma Pi at our University? What do you expect in terms of the pillar’s strategic goals? What have you struggled to achieve most with this pillar? Having this transparency with my potential direct superior would allow me to efficiently outline mutual action items and achieve deliverables without depending on briefings and follow-ups. By relying on these less, I was able to use them more extensively.

And then I set the plan into motion.

Upon election, I capitalized on the distinctive competencies of the position; the University’s population, the extensive contact list, and the focused scope of the professional pillar. I tailored my events to the majors of our chapter that were hungriest for opportunities, assigned a committee which I delegated responsibilities to in order to achieve organizational goals, and finally, printed custom thank-you cards and wrote notes to every professional speaker who was kind enough to speak to our chapter.

I used my vision to almost triple the visibility of the position to professional contacts and brothers alike, and gave a chapter of 78 brothers 30 opportunities for their personal and professional growth.