Should you push others into leadership positions, even if they might not be ready?

[astroAPhi]

I'm wondering this because I'm heading into my senior year, and in my organization and others, I wonder who is going to step up to the plate and run things when I'm gone.

I had a huge pledge class, and we initiated a lot of women in the pledge class after mine. We will all be graduating within the next 3 semesters, and seniors make up about 1/3 of my sorority. So it should be no surprise that most of us hold key leadership positions. Elections will be coming up late next semester, but I just started wondering anyway.

I've noticed that there is only one junior on exec, and she's not starting until next semester. She's Treasurer, but I don't know if that really prepares someone for an office like President. The other few juniors that we have were either just initiated, or hold minor officer and committee head positions. We initiated a lot of freshmen this year though, and I can already tell that a lot of them are going to be leaders.

I know of one senior that I feel is capable of being President that will be around that extra semester to be able to hold a President's term. However, I'm wondering how that gap would affect the sorority as a whole. What experiences have you had or what do you think about seniors taking on responsibility and passing it on to someone much younger? Should you just throw them into the fray even though they might not have had experience, or is it better to let the older members take over while the younger ones gain experience and will hopefully be capable when the seniors have to leave?

I'm also wondering about this because my boyfriend sort of in this situation. He's Treasurer and has been VP and Rush Chair, and works his tail off. He will be the oldest member eligible for "officer-ship" next fall. He works the hardest and they're running into problems with dedicated members. The only person with enough experience (and eligible) is very irresponsible, and really screwed up pretty bad recently. He ran for President last time and was quite honestly, glad that he lost because he was afraid of all the responsiblity, even though he was acting President for the last two weeks of his VP term. There's a definite gap in leadership experience in his organization. However, the new alumni have told him he should just let it go, and let the new dedicated guys struggle through. As of right now, he's not even planning on being an officer, not even a minor one. Has anyone been in this situation and can tell me how it turned out? I will support any decision he makes, but I want to give good advice if he asks for it.