Creating Youth Leaders

We often hear of how particular opportunities create leadership skills in youth. However, should we credit the opportunities for bringing out what was there already?

I firmly believe that some people have innate leadership ability and some don't. I firmly believe that some people have a certain level of charisma that is necessary to attract people and lead their behavior for better or worse. Given that this is my belief, I do believe that for most people who ultimately lead groups of people, leadership skills are not necesarily innate and often developed when given the opportunity to implement and modify. When the opportunity is presented during adolescence, there is more time to see what works and what doesn't so that leadership roles during adulthood are more manageable and achievable.

It is not by chance that many of our leading figures in politics, education and even the entertainment field held leadership roles as young people. Roles in Student Government Association, a Peer Leader program, Boys Scouts or a Youth Judicial Board are wonderful learning grounds to prepare young minds for future roles as leaders.

If your program is one that does not have many opportunities for youth to serve as leaders and test their skills, recognize that this is a learning need that either will go unmet or met somewhere outside of your program-- for better or worse. Think outside of the box and include the youth in the discussion to inject meaningful opportunities for youth leadership development.

Do you operate a program that has a successful youth leadership component? If so, we'd love to hear about! Start a discussion and share.