Thoughts on Leadership

A recent life experience has led me to do some contemplating on leadership; specifically, how do individuals become leaders?

Two years ago our local leadership organization, Leadership York, announced a new program where emerging leaders would be paired with an established mentor from the community. Obviously, the goal of the program is to cultivate the next generation of leaders by sharing wisdom and experience from those who are currently or have been influential in the area.

In each of the past two years, I have applied to the Mentorship York program.

And, somewhat surprisingly, I’ve been turned down twice!

Last year the program coordinator cited my youth and short tenure in my current position as the main reasons that I was not accepted into the program. This year, there was no reason given. In my frustration, I’ve spent plenty of time trying to figure out why I wouldn’t be the ideal candidate. I consider myself to be an emerging leader, and I feel that I could grow a lot with assistance from a mentor. My roles at work, church, and home all require leadership skills and at 27 years old I haven’t had enough experience on my own to feel adequate in my positions. Am I not the exact person that this program has been created for? Apparently not. This has left me feeling somewhat snubbed.

When I was in high school, I was selected to take part in a program called Future Leaders of York – also run by Leadership York. So as a teenager I was able to network with other future leaders and gain valuable insight from influential community members. That was a great experience. But now I have been told that I need to wait a few more years before I’ll be a good candidate for the next leadership training opportunities, and it makes me wonder if I’m not alone in feeling as though people my age are being left out. There is leadership training available to teenagers and 30-40 somethings, but nothing for the recent college graduates and young professionals. How frustrating!

This has all brought me to one conclusion: that I need to take ownership of my leadership growth. If local organizations won’t provide me with training and experiences for growth, I’ll need to find ways to cultivate these traits and skills on my own. I need to be proactive and look for opportunities to serve in leadership capacities at work and in volunteer positions so that I can become a mentor in the future. I’d like to provide leadership training to people my age because there seems to be a leadership “no man’s land” for those in their 20′s and early 30′s.

Answering my question at the beginning of the post, it is clear to me that individuals do not become leaders through leadership training and mentorship alone. You can read all the books, talk to all the influential people, and apply to all the programs but nothing can replace personal experience when it comes to growth.

Tags: leadership, mentor, youth