There is an old saying: “Lead, Follow or Get out of the Way”. I first heard this on Idiocracy, a hilarious social commentary of a movie, and it has really stuck with me. In this day and age when youth leadership is a phase thrown around a lot, it really got me thinking about what it means to be a youth leader.
You see, I am not a youth leader. If I were to describe myself, I’d be a youth follower, or even a youth loner since I dislike crowds, hate public speaking and generally not ambitious or clever enough to start my own projects or build houses for Habitat for Humanity in Guatemala. I was totally unengaged in high school and only somewhat to not at all engaged in university and one experience in university pretty much put an end to my participation in anything.
Oh and strictly speaking, I’m not even a youth. I’m 25 and would prefer the term “young professional” but depending on where you are, youth can be anywhere from 12 to 35. So broadly speaking, I still fit into the youth category.
I also work for a human rights organization that fosters youth leadership and education as a communications coordinator, have organized two international youth conferences and am fairly knowledgeable in current events, international relations and Canadian politics (it helps that my degree is in Political Science).
Some people are naturally outgoing and leadership comes easily to them but I am pretty introverted and don’t have the greatest socializing skills. For me, taking the lead does not come naturally and it can be quite a chore, so much so that I prefer not to take the lead if I can avoid it. There will be some who criticize that as laziness or apathy but that’s the thing. Some youth just aren’t suited to be team leaders, whether they are not experienced enough or are naturally introverted and it galls me when all politicians or community leaders talk about is building the capacity of youth leaders.
What about the rest of us, middle of the pack, boring, introverted, loner kids who don’t want to be forefront and centre? What about us not-so-motivated-but-still-interested kids who would be willing to put in time and effort to be part of a team and accomplish a collaborative goal? Yes, self-motivation is an important quality to have when it comes to taking action but take it from me, self-motivation isn’t inherent and you can’t expect someone who doesn’t naturally take charge to, well, take charge and be motivated about something. I am motivated by external stimuli, not internal ones, and I suck at taking personal initiative to accomplish anything but given the right motivation (my cause) and great leadership (my current mentors), I have learned how far I can push my boundaries and how much further I can still go.
There will be those who will proudly and loudly proclaim that this kind of thinking (following rather than leading) encourages apathy and laziness since youth are already unmotivated to take action. Most people who say this, I find, tend to be extroverted go-getters who are already inclined to be leaders or take leadership positions. I’d argue that leadership isn’t spontaneous and takes time and development and getting a youth involved is more important, to me anyways, than to make sure they all develop their own projects. I once complained to my younger brother, who happens to be one of these extroverted go-getter types, that in comparison to my older colleagues, I was the least motivated, the least passionate and the least leader-like member of our team. To which my 21 year old brother replied with a snort, “The only thing they have over you is experience at being leaders and that comes with time.”
My youth won’t last forever and neither will yours but I believe that when it’s all over, I won’t be a youth anymore but I will be a leader. And it won’t matter that I wasn’t super motivated or super engaged when I was 18, or 21 or even 23. In the two years since I graduated from university, I’ve already taken the first of many long hard steps towards being the change I want to be and I did it by following, not leading.
The Changemaker
Mandy Siu is a twenty-something communications coordinator for a human rights organization in Canada with a degree in political science. Her interests in the field of political science range from Canadian politics to youth engagement and leadership. Funny fact about Mandy is that she has organized more youth conferences then she has ever attended and thinks that ought to change before she is no longer a youth.
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