Bob Dale has invested a great
deal of his life in mentoring and coaching young leaders, realizing the
importance of keeping motivated and competent future leaders engaged. In Growing Agile Leaders (available on Kindle as well as hard copy) , Bob recognizes that the needs of leaders differ at
various stages of their lives and the life stage of the leader offers some
unique benefits as well. This led me to
ask a question specifically related to young leaders.
What do young leaders bring to
the table that increases their ability to be agile leaders?
Young leaders have huge potential
as agile leaders. I’ve had a great
laboratory for shaping future leaders. I
was a seminary professor for a dozen years and then led Virginia Baptists’
Young Leaders Program for twenty-one years.
I’ve invested a lot of time and imagination in the next generation of
leaders.
I believe younger leaders have
several advantages that aren’t native to older leaders.
First, today’s young leaders
don’t expect continuity. They’ve lived
and lead in disjointed historical eras all of their lives. They expect to have seven careers over their
lifetimes. Many younger leaders have an
intuitive understanding of ways to bridge worlds. They’ve dealt with constant transitions. They’ve watched worlds morph and are building
links from where we are to where we need to go next.
Second, constant transitions have
taught younger leaders to live “at speed.”
They’ve faced, coped with, and crossed several paradigm or mindset thresholds
already. Younger leaders have learned,
unlearned, and relearned as a lifestyle---that’s what it means to them to be
educated. Consequently, they aren’t as
apt to lock into “one right way” and only practice that singular approach. Of necessity, because they’ve skated across
icy worlds for most of their lives, younger leaders have had to become more
agile.
Third, younger leaders have a
hidden resource. Having grown up during
a chaotic, high-speed, global era, they’re advance scouts for organizations on
the move. A few years ago, I served as
consultant to an international organization’s effort to start a world-wide
leadership development process. We
identified models and experiences for the developing leaders. We designed a variety of delivery systems for
the training processes. Then, one of
the designers looked over our work, drew a deep breath, and asked hopelessly,
“Where will we find teachers old enough to provide all we need?” I turned the question around. I lobbied for younger leaders to become the program’s
trainers---young men and women who are mature, people with global backgrounds,
persons with solid track records and varied experiences. In other words, the mentors for many of us
will be younger leaders. Mentoring is as
important to adults as parenting is to children. But, with mentoring, age isn’t the beginning
point. Ability and agility are the ultimate
game changers.
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