Building Leadership Beyond the Classroom: Lucas Spicer’s DCU Business School Journey
BA International Business student Lucas Spicer on building a leadership platform, gaining cross-sector experience, and using DCU’s opportunities to create impact beyond the classroom.
1. What has defined your DCU Business School journey beyond the classroom?
What has defined my DCU Business School journey is that I tried to use the university as more than a place to study. I saw it as a launchpad to test ideas, build confidence, ask questions, and take on opportunities that pushed me beyond what I thought I was capable of.
That meant getting involved in communications, competitions, research, internships and leadership projects alongside my degree. Each experience taught me something different, but they all connected around one idea: learning by doing.
DCU gave me the environment to take initiative seriously. It helped me understand that business education is not only about theory, but about communication, judgement, problem-solving, leadership and the ability to create opportunities rather than waiting for them.
2. How has DCU helped you develop your confidence, communication skills and sense of leadership?
DCU helped me build confidence by giving me repeated opportunities to communicate, present, work in teams and take responsibility. Over time, that made me much more comfortable putting myself forward, reaching out to people and following through professionally.
A lot of what I learned came from practical experience. Whether it was group projects, consulting-style work, communications work or competitions, I had to learn how to explain ideas clearly and make people trust the way I approached a task.
Leadership also changed meaning for me during my time at DCU. I began to see it less as a title and more as preparation, initiative and consistency. It is about doing the work properly, bringing people with you, and proving that people can trust you with responsibility.
3. Outside lectures, what kinds of opportunities have you taken on during your time at DCU?
Outside lectures, I tried to take on opportunities that helped me grow across leadership, communication, business and public affairs.
One of the main things I built was a student-led leadership platform designed to make insights from senior leaders more accessible to students and young professionals. Through that, I have had the opportunity to engage with figures across politics, diplomacy, business, academia and public service.
Alongside that, I worked with The Bulletin (DCU’s new student led journal), contributed to DCU Business School communications and marketing work, took part in competitions and hackathons, lived abroad for a year, pursued research experience, and completed internships across different sectors. I did not see these as separate things. For me, they all helped build the same skillset: communication, initiative, analysis, professionalism and leadership.
4. How did those experiences help you build something that reached beyond the university?
Those experiences helped me realise that student-led work can have an audience and an impact beyond the university if it is done with a clear purpose and to a professional standard.
Through my leadership platform, I wanted to create access to conversations that students and young professionals would not normally have. Over time, that work reached over one million impressions and involved senior figures across politics, diplomacy, business, academia and public service, including Ministers, CEOs, Ambassadors and many more.
That showed me that there was real interest in serious leadership content when it is made accessible. It also showed me that being a student is not a limitation if the work is prepared properly, presented seriously and built around a genuine purpose.
5. Were there moments when you realised your work was having an impact beyond your own network?
Yes. One of the clearest moments was receiving formal written recognition from An Taoiseach, President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. I did not expect that when I first started.
That recognition mattered because it showed me the work had reached people and institutions far beyond my immediate circle. It also made me realise that the platform was not simply about interviewing impressive people. It was about creating a bridge between young people and leadership spaces that can often feel distant or inaccessible.
Another important moment was seeing students, graduates and young professionals engage with the interviews and tell me that the conversations helped them think differently about leadership, careers or public service. That was when I realised the work had a purpose beyond my own development.
6. Have internships played an important role in your development, and what did they teach you?
Yes, internships have played a major role because they helped me understand how leadership works inside real organisations.
My experiences across technology, consulting, financial analysis, public policy and communications taught me that leadership looks different depending on the environment. In consulting, it often means structure, clarity and stakeholder management. In public policy, it means judgement, evidence and responsibility. In communications, it means accuracy, audience awareness and telling the right story in the right way.
Those experiences helped me connect what I was learning at DCU with the professional world. They also made me more aware of the importance of trust. Whether you are preparing a briefing, supporting a project, analysing information or communicating publicly, people need to know that you are reliable and that you take the work seriously.
7. What advice would you give students who want to create opportunities but do not know where to start?
I would tell them to start before they feel fully ready. You do not need to have the perfect network or the perfect plan at the beginning. You need a clear purpose, a professional approach and the willingness to ask.
A lot of my own opportunities came from asking questions, seeking advice and following up properly. People are often more willing to help than students realise, but you have to show that you are serious. That means doing your research, being respectful of people’s time and making it easy for them to understand why you are reaching out.
I would also tell students to use the support around them. DCU has lecturers, staff, classmates, alumni, competitions, societies and practical projects that can all open doors. One opportunity often leads to another. The key is to take each one seriously, because small steps can compound into something much bigger over time.
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