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Generation Y Inspiration Leadership

What gives you the right to be a young leader

My friend Nick asked me first. Then Marci said the same thing. And then today, one of my favorite creatives posed a similar question. They all wanted to know, what gives you the right to be a young leader? What gives you credibility?

Wait, what? What do you mean what gives me the right? I must admit that I didn’t have a good answer, even the third time around. To me, it’s like asking what gives women the right to work?

It seems to me that if I want to do something, then I should do it. This notion that young people have something to prove, that we must pay our dues, is outdated. But it’s obviously on the minds of my peers.

My gut reaction was to reply, “because I work really frickin’ hard. How about that?” But somehow that didn’t seem like the leader thing to do.

There’s a new trend where we’re checking under the rug to see what has been swept underneath. It’s a matter of ethics, a matter of accountability, credibility, and simply realizing that if we’re following, we should pay closer attention to who is leading.

We’ve always wanted our leaders to be transparent. But as it becomes easier to create yourself on the internet and tell whatever story you wish, being transparent is increasingly difficult. You as a blogger and who you are in real life may or may not always match up.

Indeed, our generation is moving up so quickly, that discrepancies aren’t just showing up in the online world; who you are in one job could be drastically different from who you are in the next.

And if we’re changing so drastically and consistently, do we have the expertise to move to the front of the line?

Questioning the validity of a person’s leadership skills is why more leaders aren’t stepping up to the plate in the first place. It’s why we have a leadership crisis in areas like the environmental and nonprofit sectors. And it’s why a slew of Generation Y doesn’t want to be engaged at all.

There’s nothing special to being a leader. You have to deal with a lot once you jump in, sure. It’s a challenge and it’s hard work and it’s rewarding and it’s fantastic. But leaders aren’t all that different from the rest of us.

My organization just finished a series on how local leaders in politics went from interest to action. We had a senator, state representatives, our mayor, our county executive, aldermen, lobbyists, and more. Across the board, every single political leader expressed that their story wasn’t unique. They saw an opportunity and went for it. Funny how remarkably easy it is to make a difference.

I don’t have a special skill set to be a leader. I’ve never taken leadership classes, and while I’ve been in positions of leadership since high school, I don’t think this makes me more qualified to be one now. It’s just, I can’t imagine doing anything else. Like, when I visited Madison to decide on where I would attend school, I felt in my bones that this was the place to be.

What gives you the right to be a young leader is the fact that you have stepped out from the rest of crowd. That you have put yourself out there, taken a chance, and have simply tried.

You will mess up along the way. You will make mistakes. You’ll take things personally. You won’t want to be a leader sometimes, and sometimes you might not be.

You won’t have all the skills, and perhaps it’s easier to think about it as if you’re a leader in training. But if you make that commitment, you’re already miles ahead of everyone else. And the others will follow. Because you believe in yourself. And that’s half the battle to believing in others.

Rightfully young.

In searching for links for this post, I found that Rosetta Thurman does a great job discussing this subject as well. Go check it out.

By Rebecca Healy

My goal is to help you find meaningful work, enjoy the heck out of it, and earn more money.

24 replies on “What gives you the right to be a young leader”

hi, Rebecca, how are you?

I like this post a lot & i agree – personal motivation & belief are the key things in being ‘a leader’. i sometimes wonder about all of this finger-pointing though: standing up & saying “I’m a leader” feels a little bit like AA, vs just standing up and leading.

the young bit is interesting. you say it doesn’t matter but you don’t expand on why you feel that. i guess perhaps you’re being asked the ‘young’ question so much because you’ve put such an importance on your age? you talk about ‘generation X/Y’ a lot, your header mentions ‘quarter-life crisis’, etc. or perhaps i’m just reading too much into that!

I hope life’s good,

daniel

As usual, good thoughts all around.

For me, leadership happens when someone finally steps forward and says, “I’ll do it.” Lots of people can have ideas – what distinguishes them is the initiative to take action.

@ Daniel – thank you for your thoughtful comments. I think you’re right that a leader just needs to stand up and do it, but if you share your experiences that will only (hopefully) inspire others to get involved, and possibly lead themselves.

I don’t think it matters if you’re young , and you’re probably right that I get asked about it more often because I do put a lot of emphasis on it. When you’re young and when you’re old, it still takes the same courage just to stand up. So what makes the difference that we’re young?

Thanks again!

@ Sam – Exactly. This is actually the same rule in entrepreneurship. Your idea is not unique. Someone else has the same idea. What will make your next big idea work is because you’re uniquely you and you push it forward. Thank you for the comment!

There is also different kinds of leadership. Individual contributors can be just as much of a leader as those who lead others. Just ask yourself who the person is who would know about X in your organization and you’ve found yourself a leader.

Leading people is a different skill set. The leader needs to have a vision of the end state (of a project, for example) while ensuring that the people working on the project are engaged to reaching the same end state.

A leader of people needs to have the skill of monitoring all of the facets of the work to ensure that there is good accountability for each task and that the tasks are actually getting done.

There are other skills, of course, but the point is this: leadership has little to do with age, paying dues, or having done something before. Leadership is about developing and using the skills leaders use to get work done.

If Rebecca is utilizing her leadership skills with others, I’m happy to follow — because a group of leaders and followers that gets stuff done is a great place to be working.

Strangely enough, I was just reading a post this morning from someone who had positioned himself as a supposed leader in the field of technology simply because he’d been able to establish a popular blog.

There wasn’t much substance to it and honestly no matter how hard he tries I don’t think this person will ever be what I would truly consider a leader no matter how many people follow him and his blog because they think he’s cool (sorta applies to celebrities who try to lead as well).

Here’s the thing, I don’t think you can just decide to be a leader. Being a leader is not a position someone holds. Leadership is a result. Do things well and engage people through competent action and most likely you’ll find yourself in a position that leads others. Being responsible for yourself and your actions will get you there as well.

People who jump into leadership positions for the prestige and not because they enjoy doing what it is that makes you a leader cause many more problems than they’re worth and make others unwilling to behave in a way that will put them in a position that they percieve to be one of “leadership”.

Kind of a rant I know, but something that I see happening more and more when it comes to GenY…

The leaders are not the best but the most vocal and its sometimes at the expense of those who are doing great things but slightly more quietly….

Brad makes a good point — which is why leadership is about skills, not shrills!

If you have the leadership skills, either as an individual contributor or a person who leads others, then the rest doesn’t matter.

But, if you don’t have the skills, saying you’re a leader won’t make you one.

@ Scot – great points. I completely agree! It’s about what you’re doing, not other external factors or past experience.

@ Brad – I think you describe the exact concern others had when they asked me the question. It’s easy to just declare yourself “I’m the leader!” and be done with it. It’s much harder to follow through. Can you tell the difference on the internet? And does it matter? I’m not so sure.

[…] Don’t the sick fairies know I have stuff to do? Really. My nose is so red and my skin is so pale, I look like Rudolph died. It’s not fun. And I’m trying to figure out how I can get some work done. Any work whatsoever. So I do a little work, and then I call my mom to check in on her, because as it turns out, even hundreds of miles away, she’s sick too. […]

I’ve been a leader for the last 25 years and I have managed older and youger individuals than myself.
I have experienced similar questions (albeit 20 – 25 years ago!).

Age doesn’t come into it. Being confident, engaging, supporting, a nice person does.

Andrew

I think that is a great answer. I’m glad my douchery could be a catalyst for that kind of a productive post. It has previously only been a catalyst for being kneed in the balls.

Sorry to hear you are sick. Get better and don’t try to do too much in the meantime. You can be sick once in a while. You are allowed.

Hi, Rebecca,

Good for you! You know in your heart and mind when you are meant to take the next step–there are no forumlas. I resonate with your message because I became a manager for the first time at the age of 19. Eight people reported to me–all much older than me. Becoming a leader evolved from that experience. That was in 1969.

Now I write. My new book, coming out in a few weeks, is about leadership from the perspective of 21st Century Employees. Let me know if you’d like to be added to the mailing list to receive and announcement of its availability.

Marilyn Haight
BigBadBossdotcom
WordedWritedotcom

[…] And I don’t know if it was the charming accent or what, but more than ever, I got why people were so concerned with credibility. I mean, Kirk has built a bridge for goodness sakes. And while someday I might build a bridge too, I haven’t accomplished such feats yet. Which isn’t to say that what I have done isn’t amazing, but that I still have more work to do. That makes me excited. Because being a little like Kirk Watson is something to look forward to. […]

1. Do more and better than others expect you to do
2. Think also from the other side when you’re doing it
3. Do not expect rewards …
4. Enjoy doing it or don’t do it!

So, yes, nothing gives you the right to be a young leader
You are or you are not.

ps: age does not matter. young is a state of mind.

More important than be a leader is to be a positive leader. Bad and negative leaders are so common, are so much… Leadership for young people obsesed with success, usually works better if you are a noisy, popular but not necesarily a positive leader.
Takes time to learn… and more time to inspire!!

[…] Seeing how instrumental Rebecca’s blog had been in shaping her career is what finally gave me the gumption I needed to put myself out there and launch ellelamode.com. When you have something to say, and say it well, people pay attention.  She made me realize that the biggest barricade to  becoming the leader I desire to be is my own self-doubt. […]

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