Initiative and leadership go hand in hand. Wherever you go, it's your initiative that is going to make an impact. Suppose it's your first day of the college or the first day of your job; every other student or person is equal to you. But what creates the difference over the subsequent years is your "initiative".
When you start someplace new, a job, or a college, there are already platforms that can empower you. What remains is to make use of them. And that happens when you take initiative.
Let me explain using a few examples from my time as a student at IIT Gandhinagar. I was involved with many teams, events, and roles during my four-year undergraduate. From being a part of the team that set up Tinkerers' Lab to creating the Explorers Fellowship website, to being a Student Guide, it was all I never thought about when I entered the college. I never thought about those things. But although I did one thing; I took the initiative to be a part of these activities.
How does the idea of creating a website for Explorers Fellowship sounds, when you know nothing about creating a website? Difficult, right? Nope. Me and a bunch of my friends took the initiative (when no one amongst us knew how to design a website) and we ended up creating the first version of the website on WordPress; the same website that is live today.
I wanted to be a student guide from the moment our month-long Foundation Programme ended. I did not know that time what it meant to be a Student Guide or what set of skillset you should have to be a student guide. I only knew that I wanted to be one. So, I took the initiative to be a Student Guide in my second year. Signed up for the interviews and was rejected straight out! I would be lying if I say that being rejected did not hurt, but, I took the initiative next year again, and voila!
So, to summarize; there are a lot of opportunities provided by our college, the organization we work at, society, etc. What needs to be done from our end is to take initiative in what interests us. You need not already know calligraphy to join a calligraphy club. If calligraphy excites you, it gives you enough reason to take initiative and approach the club master/members.
Things happen when you take initiative from your end, and many times it evolves into providing a platform for you to showcase your leadership skills. So, rather than sitting in your room, go out and take initiative, things will happen themselves!