Development of Trust – Based Collaborative Leadership Mindsets

For those of us that came of age in another era, it is hard to understand the changes that have happened in our schools.

Schools are not what they used to be.

It’s not fair to blame the teachers; they work hard and try their best.

We must not overlook the magnitude of what’s happening with our youngest generation.

Many educational institutions have come to recognize the importance of preparing youth to be ready for the next phase of their lives, whether it be as a member of the workforce, a parent, or going on to college. All youth should be good citizens, able to help the community in which they live and work.

The most important years to focus youth on being future ready occurs between the ages of 15 and 20 years of age. That’s when they begin coming of age, and can begin to envision their real role in life and in the lives of others.

A large emphasis in today’s school curriculum focuses on science, technology, engineering, and math (referred to as STEM). Some educators have realized the importance of adding “arts” as another dimension to the educational equation (thus STEAM).

We believe that Leadership is the Pinnacle of all the Arts, for it is the art of mobilizing and multiplying talent.

What is needed is more emphasis on character development in youth – with a special emphasis on one’s personal mission & purpose, responding positively to adversity, learning from life’s experiences, and building trust. These are the “missing”.

Leadership is not just the domain of the elite – leadership starts with learning to lead one’s own life first, work with others productively, and engage fully in teams and organizations.
Our Youth Leadership Development series envisions teaching young people to handle the challenges of today and tomorrow…

first: by being able to lead themselves, and

second: to help guide others, especially to be responsible friends, and future mothers and fathers and employees, and engage in their work and community in a healthy and productive manner.

Before one can lead others, one must be able to lead themselves. We see four key building blocks for success that develop the inner character that forms a young person’s “Guidance System:”

Given the challenges faced by youth today, we have developed a four point youth leadership program that emphasizes:

  1. Mission: Creating Mission & Purpose in their lives to give direction and meaning to life itself
  2. Adversity: Positive Response to Adversity to enable them to rebound from difficulty
  3. Learning: Life Long Learning to enable continual refinement to personal values & depth of understanding & wisdom, and experiencing life as a learning experience
  4. Trust: Building a world they can Trust by internal integrity, selection of the right friends, and working collaboratively in teams

This “Four-Building Block Guidance System” was derived from studying hundreds of successful people across the ages, and distilling their unique abilities into a simple, easy to learn framework to which we can link mindsets and skillsets.

Our Youth Leadership Programs are designed for two groups:

  • Millennials (ages 15 – 18 years old — High School, pre-college, and vocation technical seeking leadership training to be effective and assist in college acceptance)
  • Millennials (19-25 year olds seeking college credit and a competitive edge for post-graduation employment)

Across America:

Death – Suicide has Skyrocketed (nearly every teen knows someone who has considered suicide, there is one suicide attempt among teenagers every 20 seconds)

Depression – 20 % of teens will experience depression (increasing risk 12X for suicide attempts)

Distrust – Lowest Level in History (only 30% of Americans trust our Public School System)

Drugs – Doubling of Drug Overdose deaths among youth in last decade

Despair – Dream is Dying” (50% of youth believe their lives not will be better than parents)

In Florida

Dropouts –nearly 30% of teenagers fail to graduate (creating a flawed future)

We must not fail our children – they are America’s Future

The American Management Association’s survey of business executives on the adequacy of “critical skills” among their workforces defines key areas employers desire:

Critical Skills (prioritized) – Proficiency Rankings

Communications – 51.4% rank as only average
Collaboration – 42% rank as only average
Critical Thinking – 46.9% rank as only average
Innovation – 46.9% rank as only average

Our Four Factor Guidance System is designed as a foundation for developing the personal skills for future life and career.

Jump to our Youth Leadership Program. It’s not enough just to live your life… you must lead your life.