However, I want to challenge that stereotype by emphasizing the professional development and self-improvement opportunity that is presented to Greek life members - especially those that hold leadership positions. Currently, I serve my one-hundred member sorority as chapter president and work with other officers to keep a well-balanced, structured, and involved organization.

Fraternities and sororities must operate as a business first, and a socialite second to be able to be successful. I would really like to indicate some key concepts that show the relation between Greek organizations and businesses.

Greek organizations:
• Divide officers into teams to focus on specific regions of the chapter
• Must operate on a strict budget, fueled solely from member's dues
• Must market themselves well to be able to continue to recruit new members
• Have mission statements and values to put on their members to and gear their brand
• Must follow rules from, and report to, their national headquarters
• Have insurance to cover their organization and its members, in addition to many policies and procedures in area for holding events

They are just a few points that show how Greek organizations are ran as the best business, combining friendship with professionalism and offering members a good opportunity for private development.

As president, I see all sides of managing a Greek organization and must help every officer no matter what team her position is just a part of. My days are filled up with constantly making decisions and weighing the consequences. I have learned to make fair decisions that benefit the greater good, while remaining unbiased in the process. I also reply to everyone's questions and concerns while problem solving when an unplanned event takes place. For example, we'd a tiny crisis with flyers which were made to advertise an event we were having. Once they came in, we noticed the contact email on the flyers was spelled wrong. After some deliberation, we made a decision to utilize the flyers we had and made a new email with the typo included.

An enormous element of managing a successful organization is effective and professional communication. Our main forum of communication between officers and the advisory board is emailing. I have discovered how to properly send and respond to emails in an expert manner. My communication skills have improved substantially since being a leader of my chapter. I have learned to communicate concisely and format information in the most truly effective way. I have found providing information in bullet lists is the best way to have members to learn messages fully. Our officers must hold team meetings and get reports of progress in different areas on their team. Officers are in charge of organizing their particular meetings and taking minutes to record that which was discussed. Greek organizations teach members to effectively and professionally communicate through emailing, holding meetings, and dealing with others.

One of the very valuable traits that I am still learning through my presidency, is ways to get more comfortable with hard conversations. I work closely with this Director of Standards and Ethics to be sure our members are holding themselves to our high ideals and values. If someone is falling behind, it's our job to possess conversations with them about why this really is happening and what we are able to do to ensure it does not happen again. These tough conversations become even tougher when remembering that the members of our chapter will also be our friends and sisters. As a leader of a Greek organization, I'm learning how to have these hard conversations while remaining in control of myself and the conversation.

Greek life has a lot more to provide compared to social facet of the business, and can truly prepare young adults to participate the professional world. Through developing members personally, and developing officers professionally, Greek organizations can provide life-changing collegiate experiences that can't be found elsewhere.