Prudhvi Gadiraju, oikos International Executive Board 2017
A warm hello to my fellow oikees,

Hi. Hey. Hello. What’s up. Namaste. My name is Prudhvi Gadiraju. I know, it’s a mouthful but you can call me Pru or Big P, or whatever else you like. I wanted to share with you guys how I got started with oikos and maybe a few things that I learned along the way.

My oikos upbringing was rather organic. There was a chapter at my university (VIT University, Vellore) and a friend of mine asked me to sit for recruitments. By pure happenstance I got selected. As I got more and more involved I realized this was the perfect chapter for me and for my needs. By needs I mean my desire to do something for the planet. To make it more efficient, productive, or what we like to call sustainable. I joined as a member and slowly made my way to the chapter board and then to President. I worked on quite a few projects like adopt-a-village, grassblade, Asia Meet ’16, and so on. Recently, I got the honor of joining the EB and after the Strategy Meet we just had I feel very confident about the organization and its future.

Now, for the things that I have learned. I grew up as an introvert and so expressing my views, often disagreeing, was rather difficult. The very first thing I learned was that in matters of utmost important it is the opinions and voices unheard that are the most important because they are the majority of voices. In my experience, most of the loud voices come from the shortsighted and the disregarding. I don’t want to point out a certain country in a certain western hemisphere but uhh … ya. Basically, always get your voice heard. Leadership is also usually talked about so lets mention something about that. I think it’s all about inspiration. Our organization is member led and 99% is work you do for the greater cause. Without constant inspiration and motivation anyone will lose focus and start to falter. I have learned that the way to produce the absolute best work is to keep the people around you motivated. Inspiring speeches, painting the bigger picture, making sure they understand the value of their work, and even going over all the milestones you have achieved already are just a few ways to be a leader. Lastly, projects are super important. The organization and what it stands for is all well and good but true value comes when a project has a real outcome. A tangible effect on the people around you and in your community. We can discuss theory all day long but when we change the world around us; That is progress.