I was blown away by this article from The Origins Project newsletter (Emerging Leaders part 1). I believe it was written by Alex McManus, but I’m not altogether certain of that.
Alexander Hamilton was 19 years old when George Washington appointed him as an aid. Impressive enough, except when compared to the fact that at 14, Hamilton set the rules for the sea-faring captains who traded with his employers on St. Croix Island.
In 1381, Richard II walked onto a field and faced off against Wat Tyler and his mob. Later that same day, after fourteen year old Richard 11 had Wat Tyler beheaded, the young king addressed the mob of peasants with enough sensibility to calm and end Wat Tyler’s Peasant Rebellion.
Few of us are aware of the way history and culture ‑not to mention our personal age — influence our feelings about youthfulness and leadership. In order to create an ethos conducive to including emerging leaders, we’ll need to ask ourselves the question, “At what age does someone have capacity to lead?”
Recently I spoke on a University campus and was startled at the youthfulness of the student body. This happens to me every year. In truth, the students are the same age undergraduates have always been. I’m just one year older. Every year, as our church leaders age, the young look younger. The corresponding danger is that we may overlook many of our ablest leaders.
History is sprinkled with tales of the exploits, achievements and leadership of young adults, even teenagers. Columbus and all the explorers of the new world relied on hard working teens to man their crews. Think about this: Middle school age children setting off on adventures that many adults would lack the courage to undertake. In times past, teenagers could lead armies in battle and young pages could be made knights as early as age 12.
Contrast this to the head deacon who said of his new “young” pastor, “We’re letting him stretch his wings a little.” Many emerging leaders won’t stretch their wings within a cage of past accomplishments and existing institutions. Emerging leadership will go where it can fly. One question we must ask ourselves is, do we really want young leaders? Or are we only looking for someone to serve in and manage a program we’ve created.
A tip of the hat to Jordan Cooper for finding this.
I keep describing the students at Stanford as “future leaders.” I ought to know better, but I sometimes nail them into a box that I ought to be ripping apart on their behalf.
I will say one thing though–while some students are ready to lead something major from the moment they set foot on campus, others aren’t ready even years after graduation (this isn’t just at Stanford, this is everywhere I’ve been). I guess a huge part of my job ought to be figuring out which tendency a given student has…