Leadership begins in childhood…

The onus on Leadership is on too many people – children themselves, parents, extended family, teachers,  school and the society… That’s too many people and its no small wonder NO ONE takes accountability for building Leadership qualities in children.

We may say ‘Leadership is genetic’, ‘Leadership develops in crisis’, ‘Leadership can be inspired’ etc…  Well, if it is genetic, then it requires no discussion.. But it may still require a worthy mention since our children will carry our genesJ… Whether Leadership is genetic or it develops in crisis or thru inspiration, we all carry the responsibility of making children aware of the impact of certain behaviours demonstrated by them; the impact could be on their own lives and / or the lives of others, in the present or the future. Building awareness can happen only when we observe certain behaviours demonstrated by the children and we also take the ownership of sending the right message to them, at the right time and thru the right person.

What  drew this flurry of thoughts and many more such thoughts too – It was a simple game I saw being played in the park, involving 4 children.

A game of catch-catch with rubber ball… These 4 children divided themselves into 2 teams… One team had a boy of around 10 and another boy around 7 years of age. The other team had a girl and a boy, both of them aged about 10…

The game started and the team which had the two boys was losing points, as the small boy was not able to catch every time the ball came to him or near him… The older boy said to the younger boy, quite sternly, “You move from here… from now on I will take all the catches. You just don’t know how to catch and see the low score that we have’. The little boy tried talking to the older boy but to no avail.

From then on, it was a single player team with the younger boy watching and observing. A little while later, interestingly,  the team members were swapped.. It was now a team of the girl and the younger boy while the other team had both the 10 year old boys. The game took a different twist now…  This 7 year old boy who missed many a catch earlier started catching every throw, stretching himself… He took most of the catches while the girl took the ones closer to the border line… The little boy’s team won this game…  As it was getting dark, the kids left for home and a few other kids took their place.

There were a few adults watching this game being played and I am sure each one walked away with their own perspective.

The behaviours of all the four kids caught my attention. Leadership traits that will have an impact on themselves and others in their lives, more so as they enter professional life – both positive and negative..

The older boy’s need to win in that game, his refusal to let go, his taking over the responsibility of shouldering the entire game, the words that he used to the little boy…

The younger boy’s ability to observe, grasp and build the skill of catching the ball, his focus on winning in the next game, his giving up too easily when the older boy told him to move aside…

The inability of the other two kids to either appreciate / pull up the little boy / older boy…

Many a time as adults, when we can directly influence the thinking of the children and build in them an awareness of the impact of certain behaviours, we let the situation pass thinking that everything will sort out by itself; and that the children will realise their mistakes and correct themselves later in life… It becomes too late by the time they realise and it creates havoc when certain traits are displayed as adults – break in relationships, frustration, anger, helplessness etc.,

On the other hand there are times, when we handle the influencing so badly and mess things up so much that neither do we want to try handling it again nor do the children want to be near us.

There are so many traits that children display right from their childhood that when we observe and either tap or correct, we will be able to make a significant change in their lives…

How many of us take time to observe, take time to build awareness in children and take ownership to mould the GenNext? How many of us contribute to children being committed to a cause, which would mean that they will stand up and share their thoughts candidly and frankly, without fear?

The world is in our hands as much as it is in our children’s hands!!!