Teen Leadership Potential

When teenagers talk about leaders they wish to emulate, they often choose a parent or a teacher. When discussing the reasons why they make this choice, they describe the actions of the person. They notice how the person behaves on the outside. They say things like: "My dad is outgoing and he speaks his mind.", "My mom is assertive, caring and consistent."

When teenagers talk about friendship, they want someone who cares about who they are on the inside. "A friend," they will say, "knows what I am really like, and still wants to be my friend. A friend sticks around when the hard times come. A friend cares about me no matter what. A friend doesn’t tease me to make him/herself look or feel better. Friends stay close. Friends are rare. Friends are with us for life."

It is easy for teenagers to confuse friendship with popularity. Why? What is the difference between friendship and popularity? Why do some teenagers seek to be with the popular kids, even though they do not feel close or friendly with them? How can we steer them toward the resources around them (teachers, counselors, advisors, friends, coaches, parents, siblings) to help them lead by example and not chase after popularity for selfish reasons?

The best way I know is to get teenagers talking about their role models. When asked to describe a good leader, they say things like: "A good leader does not have to be the one elected team captain. A good leader does not have to be the most popular student, a class officer, or the person with the highest grades. A good leader leads by example, even without a title, and does not seek recognition."

Leadership may be easy to define, but it is hard to teach. There are no shortcuts to good leadership. It takes practice. Someone once said, "Leadership is ten percent inspiration and ninety percent perspiration." I believe the effort is worth every drop.

Last month the New York Times published an article that noted one billion teenagers alive in the world today. That's about one-sixth of the world's population. Imagine the potential of that human resource. If every teenager could influence just six other non-teens, and that influence emphasized the Golden Rule, the world could not help but be transformed from selfish to selfless.

Imagine a world where teenagers join one another in a common mission to make the world better through selfless, committed, compassionate, responsible leadership. Imagine that.