Following the JCI UK Deputies training weekend last month, deputy local president Mike Rothon shares why he wants to be a leader in JCI.

Do you want to be uncommon amongst the uncommon?  As I do… I don’t want to settle for mediocrity and want to make the most of myself. I want to be the best I can be. This is why I’m a member of JCI Southampton and why I want to lead this organisation next year. 

JCI Southampton, JCI UK and JCI Worldwide have a fabric of uncommon people; they are the sort of people to go the extra mile. They volunteer their spare time to develop others and themselves in the process. They form a family full of knowledge and experience, with a community that includes entrepreneurs, lawyers and youth workers, to name a few. They want to make a difference in their communities by helping the most vulnerable, lobbying for change and finding solutions for difficult and complex problems.

To lead a group of uncommon people, who many are leaders in their own rights is an experience that I could not miss. The infectious community that we personally have in JCI Southampton makes going to events and socials so much fun. To be the ring leader of any JCI chamber is an honour and privilege, let alone my award-winning organisation. 

For me personally, I want to lead to develop myself as I see the development opportunities in the role, I want to give back to my community and help people who need it and I want more people to find out about the JCI Southampton community and add to the family of the uncommon people.

I think that any JCI chamber has such a potent opportunity to affect change in their local communities.  I want to lead this change. I want to lead a project that makes a real change to real people. The leadership of a local chamber gives me the platform to make this change. I firmly believe that it is not about the size of the organisation but the passion inside it, no more summed up by JCI. 

Here are the things I want to do:

• I want to develop leaders so that they can lead through tough times.
• I want to deliver practical projects for the problems that we face in the City of Southampton.
• I want to inspire others to make a change in their communities by taking real action.
• I want to develop people in our local community, so they can be the change by running their passion projects.
• I want to create more uncommon people.

I want to be the leader of these uncommon people.