Every Child Can Lead

YES, VIRTUALLY EVERY CHILD CAN LEAD

Not every child is destined to inspire the multitudes, but if one conceives of leadership as setting oneself on the line to elevate the common good, then virtually every child can be guided to become a leader. There are a few basic principles:

1. The first of these is the elimination of the limiting belief that there is one kind of leader. As long as one holds to the idea that leadership comes in only one package – Patton, for example, charging up the hill – then most young people will be excluded from activating their own potential. But as the work of “Emotional Intelligence” author Daniel Goleman indicates, leadership comes in a multitude of styles. There are pacesetters who lead by example: authorities who dictate under a tight rein of control; coaches who instruct and inspire; affiliative types who build environments of friendship, connection and trust; and democratic sorts who lead by turning power over and building the capacity of the group.

The implication is huge. If there is not one type of leader, but many, then no child can avoid the challenge of active citizenship by pointing to the deficits of the draw at birth. The task becomes understanding oneself, working on developing a leadership style tailored to one’s own character and disposition, and taking the risk.

Dr. JoAnn Deak, internationally noted author, speaker and developmental psychologist, likens the task to building stronger muscles or stretching one’s neurological rubber bands. Everyone is born with certain bands (or nascent abilities) that are stronger than others. What teachers and parents must do is help students understand where their strengths are, so they may build them, and be strategic about improving their weaknesses, so these areas do not sap the effectiveness of the whole.

2. Stretching rubber bands implies that learning to be a leader is active. Perhaps 10 percent of young people, says Deak, are so naturally disposed to be leaders, on account of their capacity to understand themselves and others, that they will lead no matter what kinds of teachers or parents they have. Perhaps 10 percent, she continues, are so ill-disposed they will never become leaders in spite of the efforts of teachers or parents. But the vast majority, the great middle, will rise or fall because of what they have been taught through a combination of instructional guidance and life experience.

Consequently, parents and teachers must give young people ample opportunities to lead. That could be as simple as determining a worthy recipient for a family donation among area nonprofits, or as bold as mobilizing a school-wide fund raising campaign to reconstruct a shelter leveled by a hurricane. It could mean coaching a child about how to see their way through a conflict with a teacher or a peer as opposed to picking up the phone and resolving the issue yourself.

If people are to lead well as adults, the brain research tells us, they will require thousands of hours of practice negotiating their own needs and visions with the needs and visions of the people around them. The role of the parent or teacher is to provide a safe environment within which young people can gradually grow their muscles and become increasingly adept in increasingly complicated contexts with progressively higher stakes.

3. One of the implications of seeing leadership development as an active process that incorporates small, social moments (and understanding that leaders lead through a diversity of styles) is recognizing that life is filled with the need and challenge to lead. None of us can afford to wait for formal titles or roles. The pages of history are replete with the acts of presidents, generals and scions of business. But they are also filled with people who led in thousands of moments and multitudes of ways before a title was ever conferred. Leadership development is an expectation. Parents and teachers who develop leaders provide support and articulate their expectations. They model the character traits they want to see enacted to the best of their abilities. They call out young people who have fallen short of the standard with honesty, kindness and respect. And they never miss an opportunity to celebrate leadership that has been displayed even when it is small. “That was great leadership,” has been said by many a strong teacher to a student in the hallway or on the athletic field after the student went out of their way to comfort a peer, redirect a class or remonstrate a teammate.

Thus, momentum for leadership is built. The adolescent brain, or the nervous system, or that mysterious thing called a conscience, registers that it has done something good and desires to do it more, and in this way, the essential human capacity, the virtue that is the difference between a community’s suffering and its future success, is given a pulse of life and grows.

Adapted from article (2010) by Ted Fish, Ed.D., M.B.A., Executive Director of gcLi