Leadership through the eyes of kids!

Waiting for my flight home in the Brisbane airport as the sun sets behind the tower in the west gives me an opportunity to reflect on a couple of whirl wind days. Starting yesterday with the children from Gr 5 at St Mary's Malvern East before hopping a flight to Brisbane to work with the children from Sacred Heart Primary Booval today. Not only did it give me a chance to get away and do some different things but it gave me the chance to share my thoughts with some great children.

The focus of my workshops is to give children an insight into the leadership of Jesus and the challenges it presents. My favourite part is explaining how it would have been possible for Jesus to disappear into the desert on the night of His arrest. Being able to use this and many other examples of Jesus focus on servant leadership with the children gives them the opportunity to see how some of our current leaders fail the test of true leadership. There was a recognisable increase in chatter when the photo of Donald Trump as a leader appeared before them.

Working through the program with the children it is great to see them recognising that leadership is not all about being the face out the front in the fancy clothes with the big reputation. Steadily they realise that leadership is about work behind the scenes and facing up to challenges. These challenges often come in the guise of friends who pressure them to do things that aren't always productive. There is an uncomfortable shuffling whenever this is mentioned as they are well aware of the peer pressure that is applied either directly or indirectly on them and the recognition of how difficult it is to tell peers to "pull their heads in."

Recognising that leadership should be aimed at "raising the average of those around them" rather than being the average of those around them is important in the process of developing leadership.

I was excited by some of the insight the children had as the program progressed. The greatest gem yesterday being, "some leaders make rules to disable others from being able to join in." Recognising that some leaders ensure that their position is protected rather than focusing on the improvements they can make for others was an important lesson.

Hopefully the children of St Mary's and Sacred Heart gained some valuable lessons yesterday and today and will begin the journey of leadership with an eye on how they can improve life for those around them.

#StudentLeadership