True leadership knows no age. Leaders are people of any age who just go do it. They grab your attention, take the initiative, are compelling, and set an example. Youth have the capacity to lead. They are not constrained by ego, time, place, or limitation. It’s the adults who put limits on them. But that is changing. And it’s having a ripple effect.
Recently I was mentoring two teenagers who were struggling. One told me, “I thought I was a throw-away person until you told me I had value.” The other admitted that no one had ever asked his opinion before or even listened to him if they did. I recall a practice of an American teacher that every single day he repeated to his pupils from poor and conflicted neighbourhood schools: You are a chance of greatness. Self-fulfilling prophecy works every time – whether if we have negative or positive thoughts.
If you consider yourself a young leader here are three things you can do to get recognized as the leader you are:
- Mobilize a group of your peers to accomplish something good – Helping form a committee to finance building wells in Africa or to tutor kids in math and science are good ideas — but come up with your own. Many kids are doing these things in elementary school up through college and their early 20s. What you do will get noticed, and you will generate respect for it. And you’ll learn from it.
- Recruit a mentor – Find someone more experienced than you are, and ask them to be your personal coach and professional adviser. Make a reach here. Ask someone to be your mentor who you think is unattainable, even unapproachable. You may be surprised at the positive replies you receive. Next, lean on your mentor. Mirror their good behaviour and successes. Ask them to share their life lessons with you.
- Dream a lot – Leaders are usually dreamers. They imagine things the way they ought to be and follow their dreams. Youth is a good time to dream a lot. But then you need to act. Be willing to fail because dreams are not always reliable business strategies. But that’s the fun of it.
While you are young you can take more risks. You can stick your neck out further because your ego is not always preceding you and expectations of you may be lower. Becoming a leader at an earlier age allows for more years of productivity during which you can take the energy of youth and carry it through all the years that follow.
