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Leadership, According to Alumnus Barry Cappello

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Leadership, According to Alumnus Barry Cappello

In 1957, the Dodgers moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles, and a year later, the Cappello family followed. For their son, Barry, L.A was a place of magic and beauty.

After finishing high school, Cappello decided to stay in L.A. for college and attended the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA). Though Cappello did not start his college career at UCLA until his junior year, he found a home in Lambda Chi Alpha, introducing the idea of leadership.

Cappello’s  road to understanding the skills of a leader, including hard work, began when he was only 16 years old. He was tasked with paying his own way in not only life, but school as well. From a very young age, Cappello was taught that leadership is not defined as wealth, fame, or power, but defined in the power of a strong moral character.

Today, Cappello is a successful lawyer in Santa Barbara, but still remembers those days in Lambda Chi that shaped him.

“Lambda Chi was a very important part of my life…I was always enamored with the idea of what a fraternity was and didn’t realize what it was until I became a member,” said Cappello. “It is a love of your brothers…”

Addressing members during the kick off at Stead Leadership Seminar-West, Cappello challenged them to not only remember the love of Lambda Chi, but to use the conference setting as a place to grow.

“To me, the conference, of course, is one of the strong things that the fraternity has pushed for years, leadership being one of the most important things about the fraternity,” stated Cappello.

Cappello went on to tell members that to be a great leader in their chapters and in life, they have to be ready to do the hard work, accept the failures that come with it, and use those failures as a tool to become successful.

As undergraduates go through educational programming during the conference, they will have the unique chance to meet brothers from all walks of life and take new ideas back to their chapters.

Cappello left members with a newfound sense of purpose and the reminder of the remarkable opportunity they have to better themselves and their campuses.

“We always hear about the bad things about fraternities, but the great things about fraternities and sororities and what makes them so long-standing today is that comradery that has developed and that relationship is so important going through life,” said Cappello. “For me, it was a life-changing experience.”

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