“Don’t wait for the future, live in the future.” from the book Understanding Student Leadership

The preparation of leaders of today and tomorrow falls on every generation. In our generation, we cannot wait for bad leaders to happen and complain of bad leadership. It is our responsibility to empower the young people to be transforming leaders now and for the future.

However, the question of good leadership cannot be an addendum of chance. We must be intentional on creating leaders that will leverage on the opportunities around us and address the challenges of our time and in the future.

Having worked with leaders across the divide, and inspiring young leaders, the un-answered question I normally get is “Can I be a good Leader? and my answer is always Yes and No.

However, this must be demystified other than waiting for nature to emerge good and bad leaders, we can intend to mentor, train and equip our young leaders to be the great leaders of tomorrow.

Africa cannot continue dreaming without intentional growing of leaders in all spheres of our social, political, economical and religious sphere.

We ought to demystify leadership of positions, power and authority to creating as many leaders in all our spheres of life.

Demystifying leadership

Most times when leadership is mentioned,  it’s placed in terms of politicians, religious leaders, and now business gurus etc. Rarely is leadership thought about in context of daily life. Leadership to many thought of in terms of power and authority. However looking at the definition of leadership by J. Osward Sanders in his book Spiritual Leadership, he states “Leadership is influence”

Looking at leadership in this way helps us to demystify and widen our perspective of what leadership is. From a mother in a home, the teacher in a class, an employee at work, a business person, a religious leaders, a doctor in a health centre. All these are places where influence can be made either positively or negatively.

The bible says in Mathew 5:13-16 You are the salt of the earth…. You are the light of the world……Let you light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven”

As human beings we are all born with the power to influence. We therefore can’t afford to wait to be in positions of power and authority for us to do so. To influence requires us to stand up for something. Thomas Jefferson once said “In matters of fashion, swim with the current. In matters of conscience, stand like a rock”

We are in a generation that has massive challenges and opportunities that require equipping the young generation to stand for something, to stand for the truth, to be answers of our time and be part of solving challenges of our time. (More reading “I am part of the answer”)

That is why preparing leaders should be part and parcel of formal and informal education. We recently witnessed how Japanese football fans in Qatar during FIFA World Cup 2022 made all the difference by cleaning the stadiums after watching matches. This is an act of intentional influence. This didn’t just happen, Japan must have been intentional of creating leaders at all levels.

Allen K. Baguma in her books; Understanding Student Leadership , Understanding Pupils Leadership, AND The Power of Saying No As an Aspiring Leader are leadership books purposely to empower leaders across the generation divide.

A quick Review of the book… Understanding Student Leadership

Stand up as Leaders of the Moment