Malala Yousafzai is the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner, having received the award at age 17 due to her efforts helping women to pursue education. She became famous when she was shot by the Taliban, a group of fighting force against the Pakistan government, because she was advocating education for women. Fortunately, she survived the attack and then set up the Malala Fund to help every woman to go to school.
Mikaila Ulmer became a social entrepreneur at the age of four. Her experience of being stung by bees provoked her curiosity to learn more about their roles in the ecosystem. Knowing that bees are dying out, Mikaila used her grandma’s lemonade and sell them to raise funds for organizations fighting hard to save bees. Now, she is age 15, her company has grown by 500% and most of the major stores in Houston, Texas have her lemonade.
Both revolted against the status quo and took massive actions to make their world a better place, despite their background. They have also shown that becoming a leader has nothing to do with age, status, or fame. As Simon Sinek, a famous author, and a speaker, beautifully said, “Leadership is a choice.”
Even if you have just joined a company as a fresh graduate, you are a student, or unemployed, you can still choose to be a leader.
The real question is, why would you want to become a leader?
Being a leader trains your soft skills such as goal setting, problem-solving, collaboration, and communication skills which are critical to help you become successful in life.
As you lead, you will be exposed to situations where you need to make tough decisions such as telling a team member that he or she is not performing or even firing a team member. Nobody likes to be in these situations, but they help you to build self-confidence.
Leadership experiences also give you the opportunity to discover who you truly are strengths, weaknesses, values, purpose, and meaning in life. This information forms your identity which acts as your inner compass — which can help you live life true to yourself.
World issues such as poverty, climate change, animal extinction, global warming, and others will not disappear unless a group of people takes charge to heal the world. We need more young leaders to rise above their status quo and take action to make a positive dent in our society so humanity can live harmoniously with nature.
Young people should not let age, experience, and background to stop them from taking charge of improving themselves and their community.
Leadership is a choice. It is up to you whether you want to take it. Leadership comes with an attitude…develop it!
