Youth Leadership: Reasons for Hope, Reasons for Concern

Barry Posner and I are currently at work on The Student Leadership Challenge to be released later this year. It is an uplifting and gratifying experience to read the Personal Best Leadership stories from some truly extraordinary college-age leaders. Many stories rival any that we have gathered from even the most experienced executives. It should give all of us reason for hope and optimism about our future.

While working on the book this morning, I received an email from Amy Packard, our publicity manager at Jossey-Bass. She sent along a link to an article in The Washington Post about the Marshall High girls' basketball team in Falls Church, Virginia. The article reports that “Each Marshall player has spent about 10 hours this season studying leadership handouts, evaluating teammates and themselves on leadership skills and discussing aspects of leadership in meetings with Coach Noel Klippenstein.” Wow. Ten hours in a season is more than most corporations spend with their supervisors talking about leadership. Part of their reading, we are proud to report, is The Leadership Challenge. Thank you, coach, for introducing leadership to our leaders of the future.

It’s extremely heartening to hear coach Klippenstein say that "Any coach who is waiting for a leader to emerge is waiting for second place to happen…I feel pretty strongly about that. Leaders are made. So if there's some mentorship and some guidance, then [they] can be much greater leaders." She gets it. Coaches all across the country should take heed. In research by Public Allies a few years back, 26% of 18 to 30 year-olds identified “teachers and coaches” as their primary source of leader role models. Among that same group, 40% selected “family members” as the place they look for the best examples of leadership. Leadership is everyone’s business, and young people are more likely to turn to their family, teachers, coaches, and others close to them for leadership examples than they are to look to senior corporate executives, politicians, military officers, or others. Young people are also eager learners about leading once they understand that leadership is something they, too, have the capacity to exhibit. Sophomore point guard Theresa Hackett put it this way: "At first it seemed like, 'Oh, we have to read this whole packet?' But I think it really does help everyone to get understanding. It kind of motivates you: Okay, I want to be this person that they say is the ideal leader.”

Three cheers for Coach Klippenstein. Three cheers for the Marshall High girls' basketball team. Three cheers for our youth leaders.

Reading the Washington Post article about the Marshall High girl’s basketball team certainly uplifted my spirits, but something else I read this morning brought me back to earth. The headline blarred: “New Poll Shows Many Teens Believe Lying, Violence and Cheating Are Acceptable Behaviors.” That’s enough to make any parent – or concerned citizen – blanch.

According to a survey released in December 2007 by Junior Achievement and Deloitte, “The majority of teens surveyed (71 percent) say they feel fully prepared to make ethical decisions when they enter the workforce. Yet 38 percent of that group believe it is sometimes necessary to cheat, plagiarize, lie or even behave violently in order to succeed. Nearly one-quarter (24 percent) of all teens surveyed think cheating on a test is acceptable on some level, and more than half of those teens (54 percent) say their personal desire to succeed is the rationale.” Yikes. It certainly gives me pause…and wonder what the parents, teachers, coaches, and peers of these kids are talking about — or not talking about — at home and at school to give kids the impression that cheating is a route to success. Don’t they know that 88% of people say they want leaders who are honest? Don’t they know that integrity is the number one most universally positive quality people look for in leaders? Don’t’ they know that credibility is the foundation of leadership? I guess not.

It depresses me that we have failed to communicate clearly to one hundred percent of our young people that honesty and integrity are cornerstones in the foundation of leadership…and absolutely essential to long term personal success. This is why I am renewing my commitment to youth leadership development in 2008. From reading the Personal Best stories of our young leaders, there is so much reason for hope and optimism, but we still have much work to do. And yet, that is all the more reason to be optimistic. We know that leadership makes a difference and that the more time we spend engaging others in learning to lead the more likely it is that they will become better leaders.

Let’s celebrate the Noel Klippenstein’s of the world and vow to join them in their efforts to develop the emerging leaders of tomorrow.

Posted by Jim Kouzes

Comments

[Jonathan Frye at Leadership Jot]

Jim,

It is disheartening that so many young people consider unethical behavior acceptable. Unfortunately, it is also disheartening that too many older people in leadership positions fail to lead by example. There is a clear connection between successful leadership and ethical behavior; I even wrote an article titled, The Correlation of Ethics and Leadership. Leaders of today and the leaders of tomorrow should embrace the challenge of effectively communicating the foundations of leadership – honesty and integrity.

Best regards,
Jonathan Frye

[Daren Blonski]

Jonathan,

I agree with both you and Jim that it is deeply disheartening that so many young people do not see honestly as being important. I am excited to see the Student Edition of the Leadership Challenge. There is a great need for educators and parents alike to do a better job at educating their students and children. My generation has suffered extensively because we have failed to absorb a clear sense of morals, ethics, and standards. While we can point the finger to those whom should have been teaching us such important life skills, this does no good. The only solution is to take personal responsibility as a generation and decide we want the future to be. I am convinced that a time will come when we will rise to the occasion. I see so much good from so many of my peers. I truly believe that while we will see some changes and will have growing pains, we will make a difference for the betterment of society. More books like the Leadership Challenge for students are greatly needed to assist us in this process.

Best Regards,
Daren Blonski

[Jim]

Daren and Jonathan,
Thank you both for your thoughtful comments about my piece on youth leadership and ethical behavior. Jonathan, I read your article on The Correlation of Ethics and Leadership, and we, as you might imagine, agree wholeheartedly on this subject. Credibility is the foundation of leadership. Period. Full stop. Your examples are excellent illustrations of what Barry Posner and I have come to call The First Law of Leadership: If you don't believe in the messenger, you won't believe the message. This goes for youth leaders and the older leaders. Daren, thanks for your support of The Student Leadership Challenge. We too believe in the potential of our emerging leaders. Seeing what they are doing at Marshall High School in Falls Church to focus on leadership in just one arena, girls' basketball, fuels our hope and optimism. Keep up the good work....and remember to...
Love 'em and lead 'em,
Jim Kouzes

[Preston Yarborough]

As I read your musings I shared in your elation and your concern. I'm a leadership instructor at UNC-Greensboro. We have a wealth of leadership resources in our region and we're lucky for that fact. That having been said, I don't know that as a community we've leveraged these resources particularly well. Leaders are developed through many means--through challenge, through support, through experience--but relationships play a key role throughout. We have begun focusing our efforts on helping develop our community's capacity to build young leaders. It's a daunting task, but in order to best develop leaders, we need mentors, coaches, and respected advisors who are both well intentioned and well equipped to help leaders at that stage in their development. Kudos for your focus on young leaders and please let us know if we can help in the process of providing tools and resources to enable others to support the development of young leaders.

[Jeni Powell]

Jim,

Great stuff! Your comments resonate greatly with me as every year I hear stories from young leaders that illustrate the unfortunate opposing pulls of personal integrity versus personal success by any means necessary. Our young folks are in a highly competitive environment these days, competing for college entrance, for first jobs. I manage the youth leadership program that CCL has been running for 25 years in conjunction with Rotary Internationl and am filled with many concerns but many more hopes each year as I work with a new cohort of participants. The resumes (resumes in high school?!) they submit as part of the application process are astounding. Their personal leadership stories are inspiring. And their keen desire to develop and learn and grow and MAKE A DIFFERENCE in this world, well, I weep annually from the hope they give me. There is more to be done towards developing our young leaders (high school, college, early workforce) and I have a similar commitment for 2008. Your book can't come soon enough for my needs.
Best regards,
Jeni Powell