THE SHORT VERSION
Young people are awesome. They can find solutions to many of the challenges facing them and our world. BUT We have a habitual way of treating & interacting with youth (in schools, homes, communities and national platforms) that creates a very good chance they will be sold on the story of jaded and powerless citizens by age 25. Like many of us. …And then the work of another generation of change agents has to begin from scratch. 20 years from now they’ll be where we are- 30 to 75 years old, worried about the state of the world, keen to contribute but doubtful anything we do can really make a difference.
Cynicism is a symptom of a feeling of powerlessness Click to TweetWe must learn how to engage with them in a way that supports and amplifies their intelligence and inner resources; channeling the desire to be of use in the world both inward (affecting the ground of BEING from which they show up in the world) and outward (so they know how to understand complex issues, think together and create real results).
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THE LONG VERSION
Having been a somewhat reluctant entry into the world of youth work, this is probably the first time in my life that I’ve seen the enormous potential and contribution of young people in the world {Young meaning particularly between 16-25 in age. Why this specific bracket? Because it seems to me that when they’re babies, we agree they’re amazing, full of potential etc etc and somehow by the time they’re 16 we forget and decide they’re in this strange and scary world and they better their act together and start thinking & behaving exactly like everybody else. That’s why.} Here’s what they see: We tell them to Be conservative, stay on the safe side, don’t be rebellious…And then we expect them to be innovative and world changing when they join the work force. We build a measurement system based on short term, narrow parameters & individual success {Grades} and we want them to grow into long-term visionary co-creative thinkers who will forgo quarterly results for decade-later benefits. We demonstrate through our actions that we are part of a powerless whole {as a community, social segment or nation} that gets to sit in the sidelines and complain but is not entitled to participate…And we hope they will create a better world. We never speak to them or encourage them to think for themselves about the things that really matter- about society, education, service, diversity…and somehow we expect they will be well informed and make intelligent choices.
I once saw a video of Ed Schein (MIT) in which, speaking of broad societal & global challenges, he said: “I think we truly need our grandchildren to invent their way out of this.”
If we are to affect, support and co-create a new generation of leaders, we must change the way we act with them and with each other. Click to Tweet
REDEFINING LEADERSHIP
For far too long, we have separated the vast majority of people from the label of LEADER. We have said there are a certain authorized, appointed people who can create change in the world. And so we wait. And we tell others too- don’t be naïve. What can one person do? It’s a drop in the ocean.Ask yourself instead: What am I doing here? In every moment you have a chance to hold in place the status quo or offer something different.That ‘something different’ is often undramatic, a subtle shift in intention or attention. It might be as simple as allowing the opposition to finish their sentence {how often do we start our own aloud or in our head without ever really hearing them}, loosening your grip on an opinion, asking someone for theirs {and listening!} or accepting there might be another way forward. If leadership is the capacity to bring out the best in yourself and others, bring people together for common purpose and move the world in a healthier direction, this is leadership 100%.
We need a definition of leadership that includes the capacity of each human being to contribute to the world around them. A recognition that we each have a place and role in the unfolding of the world and our future. How do we know? We’re here!
Leadership = Contribution to the Whole Click to Tweet
CULTIVATION
So what can we do as teachers, parents, mentors, change agents? My guess is, there is no complete and correct checklist of how to nurture a a whole generation. Here are my inputs, based purely on personal experience of working with young people, watching phenomenal leaders over decades and having been a rebellious pain-in-arse human who somehow got the very right balance of instruction and leniency from the adult leaders around me.
1. Lead by example
We have not learnt to think and talk together among ourselves: not learnt to deepen our listening when conflict arises and to collective access and harness our most intelligent and innovative selves. We have not learnt to bring the light of the full human spirit {love, understanding, compassion, resilience, creativity} to the table. It’s time to learn. Ultimately demonstration is the most important gift we can give them.2.Listen/Engage
We {not just you and me but we as in all human beings} spend much of our time thinking of things -issues and people- in a habitual way.We fail to really see what’s in front of us because we are running a mental pattern, a way of thinking that rests on a foundation of unexamined assumptions about life, other people and ourselves.If we are able to put aside, even for a few minutes, our preconceptions & pre-packed decisions about this person, what they’re capable of, whether i agree with them or not, etc. we are often surprised by the human in front of us. even when we have met this person a hundred times before. We see a spark we didn’t see before, a potential we had not recognized and most likely a solution the problem we had with them. When we are unable or unwilling to do this, we get stuck in the trap of thinking people are difficult, differences are irreconcilable and we are victims of an unfair system at play.
LISTEN to lead Click to Tweet
Image by Terry Elliot @telliowkuwp
3.Lead them to themselves
This is in my mind the foremost job of a leader/teacher- to lead people not to seeing things our way but to THE SOURCE of their own intelligence.To teach them how to access that place from which understanding, answers and courage to act comes.Whether it’s the Three Principles, Theory U, Time to Think or good old fashioned heart-to-heart chats, ultimately the goal of our interaction with future leaders is that they learn to access their own intelligence and inner resources.
That’s my 2 cents- short for a manifesto, long for a blog post.
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