Future Leaders At Play

Stopped at a red light, I noticed a YMCA bus going through the intersection. Written boldly along the side of the bus was ‘Future Leaders at Play’. It reminded me of a favorite task of my granddaughter at her elementary school–to have her turn as the line leader. You might think ‘how fantastic’. I do get excited when young people are encouraged in their leadership. There is no question at that point of ‘which one is a leader?’. Rather, there is an assumption that every child is a future leader and that every child as a child can engage in leadership!

Like me, you might be reflecting about what happens between all of this encouragement about leadership in children, and the out dated old paradigm concepts about leadership that pervade the adult world of organizations of all kinds. What happens when our children and grandchildren enter the workforce and discover that they have very little authority to carry out their leadership?

What happens to all of this fantastic leadership energy and skill?

Will deep disappointment set in, resulting in mediocre effort and apathy?

Will bewilderment set in, resulting in job dissatisfaction?

Will shock set in, resulting in anger and despair?

I don’t wish to be so cynical as to say, maybe we shouldn’t get the hopes of children up regarding leadership and their right to engage in leadership! These young people are our hope for the future!

You can see why I am such an advocate of the new leadership paradigm ‘leading so that people will lead’. This requires a shift in our thinking about leadership, who has it, and how organizations can benefit from a culture of leadership.

In using the Genuine Contact way of working, and learning modules of the Genuine Contact™ program, you can equip yourself for leading in this new paradigm with some multi-purpose tools and techniques, and of course expand your leadership capacity during your learning. I hope you are as committed to providing a culture of leadership for our children and grandchildren as they enter the workforce!