CATALYST MAGAZINE: Fall 2025
The Ripple Effect of Speaking Up
CHLOE LIEN
Catalyst Student
Needing to take a break from my homework, I reached for my phone and saw a Gmail notification. It was the spring of my sophomore year and I had applied for a brand new innovative program at Menlo. I was anxiously waiting to hear if I would be admitted to the program. I took a breath, clicked and jumped up from my chair. I had been accepted!
I was super excited because the goal of the Catalyst program is “to develop purpose-driven leaders equipped to tackle global challenges with empathy, tenacity, and integrity.” We would be developing systems thinking and drawing from multiple disciplines to tackle complex, systemic issues like climate change. While I knew how important climate change’s impact was, I was most eager to gain new problem solving and leadership skills that I could use to also address other problems I cared about.
There were tradeoffs and risks too. I wouldn’t be able to take some of the year-long classes I had planned to take. We were also pioneers in this first time program and I had to trust that this new, different way of teaching at Menlo would actually help me gain tangible tools and skills. As we approach the end of the Catalyst semester, I’ve reflected on how this experience has benefited me.
I have become a systems thinker. It started with a book, Thinking In Systems, which details a big picture approach to understanding complex problems by studying the interconnections, relationships, and patterns within a whole system, rather than isolated parts. Key elements include the stocks (quantities that represent the state of the system), flows (actions that add or take away from the stocks), feedback loops, and leverage points. In this way, we could identify root causes, see how changes in one area affect others and consider the impact of potential interventions on the whole system. It was a good introduction, seemed to make sense but it still felt somewhat abstract and theoretical. Later we were asked to find a surprising system. I thought about it while going home after school and glanced at the traffic light. That right there, something easily looked over, was part of a system, traffic. The number of cars were the stocks, the flow was the rate of cars crossing the intersection, and the traffic light is part of a feedback loop because the green/ red light duration is adjusted based on sensors that measure the number of cars waiting at the light. By challenging myself to apply systems concepts in surprising places, I started to get comfortable with the system elements and importantly how thinking in this way would be valuable.
We had many opportunities to practice systems thinking and this is one of the strengths of the Catalyst program. We learned a lot by doing. For our leadership capstone project, we were given the opportunity to choose an issue important to us where we could apply our system thinking skills. I chose the underrepresentation of women in sports leadership positions, which I believe is important to drive gender equity in sports,
increase diversity, and provide inspirational role models for young girls of the next generation. Throughout the project, I interviewed many leaders to develop a better understanding of the sports leadership system, the barriers, and potential interventions. One of the leaders I spoke with was Danette Leighton who is the CEO of the Women’s Sports Foundation, a non-profit organization advocating for equality and expansion of leadership opportunities. She was previously the Chief Marketing Officer of the Pac-12 Conference and a Vice President of the NBA Sacramento Kings. I was super excited to interview her as I knew she would have so much to share. After introducing my project and receiving further validation for the importance of women in sports leadership, I showed Danette my draft systems map so we could dig into possible interventions. She really liked the way I represented the various elements and how this allowed us to see the breadth of impact an intervention could have. Using systems thinking was a great way to communicate!
Danette also suggested adding components I had not considered, like the pressure that women face in the middle of their careers to choose family over demanding sports leadership positions. Importantly, she also pointed out that while company policies such as Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs could have broad impact on various parts of the system, she cautioned that policy may not “always be the right answer . . .it’s more about having a culture that really believes in the power of having a team that complements each other . . . it has to be authentically led by whoever is the leader of the organization.” This insight helped me realize that while analytical tools and system thinking can point you to a high impact intervention theoretically, you need to test and ground it on practical feedback from leaders who live in the system. This capstone project really helped me feel the power of systems thinking not only to dissect and frame a complicated problem but to use it as a platform to engage others in thoughtful discussion of possible solutions and their ripple effects.
Besides the “hard skills” of problem solving and analysis, I was really hoping the Catalyst program could strengthen my “soft skills” in communications and leadership. I would describe myself as more introverted. I gain energy from thoughtful quiet time where I can carefully think through ideas and solutions, rather than thinking on my feetAt times, I feel self-conscious about my answers and waver around whether my thoughts are “good enough”. Inside, I know I have the drive to address important issues so I wanted Catalyst to help me gain more confidence and improve my communication skills even if it would push me out of my comfort zone.
Some of my classmates in Catalyst participate very actively, and I strived to exhibit more “extroverted” qualities like them. Earlier in the semester after receiving advice from a teacher, I made an effort to be less cautious to stop second guessing my own ideas. In a project on engineering a climate solution with biomimicry, I thought about a design which my former self would have not shared. This time, I proposed my idea. My team picked it up and we started discussing the advantages and disadvantages. In this case we didn’t move forward with my idea completely, but we built off my design and made something similar in the end. I realized that this ultimately helped the team develop a better solution.
As I gained confidence in contributing as a team member, I wanted to step up into a team leader role. In our biology symbiosis lab, we discovered and confirmed relationships between multiple types of plants and different inoculants. Throughout the lab, I pushed myself to lead more in my group. I took more responsibility for gathering data of our plants as they grew, and asked to run some soil tests to see how much nitrogen was within the soil.
It has been an intense and rewarding experience. I was challenged to think broader, bigger and more creatively. I loved the teamwork and close camaraderie we developed on our group projects. I deeply appreciate the bonds I have made with my teachers who were there to coach, guide and pick me up when needed. I have made great strides in my transformation to a Catalyst and only wish there was another semester to continue building my leadership skills.
Nonetheless, I feel empowered and even more motivated now to make a difference. I am continuing the work of my Leadership capstone project on the underrepresentation of women in sports leadership and have been selected as an Advocate for Voice in Sport (VIS), a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing equity for girls and women in sports. I will think globally but act locally first. Recently, I received Title IX training from VIS and plan to initiate a diagnostic at Menlo School to assess and consider any interventions that could improve equity in our sports programs. Catalyst has been such a transformative, unique experience where I’ve grown so much—from the way I learn, to the way I lead. Don’t be afraid to apply for Catalyst. Just go for it.
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