Leading When You're Not in Charge

Most leadership talks assume you've already got the title, the team, and the corner office. But what about right now — when you're a student, an employee at a part-time job, the youngest one in the room, or just somebody nobody's looking to for direction yet? Here's the truth: real leadership rarely starts with a title. It starts with how you carry yourself when no one's expecting anything from you. In this session, Roger Mericle unpacks how to lead well from any seat at the table — how to influence without authority, earn trust before you have a position, serve the people above you without losing yourself, and become the kind of person others want to follow long before they're required to. Whether you're aiming at student council, a future career, or just trying to figure out how to make a difference in your friend group, this one will reshape how you think about what leadership actually is.

Roger Mericle serves as Executive Administrative Pastor at NewSpring, overseeing the church's HR, accounting, as well as other areas. He's spent his career working at the intersection of leadership, people, and systems — the kind of behind-the-scenes work that makes everything else possible. He brings a practical, lived perspective to a topic he doesn't just teach, but practices every day.