Zimbabwe Election

As some of you may already know there was a recent Presidential election in Zimbabwe that has led to a lot of controversy. The embattled President, Robert Mugabe, has been at the helm of a once promising state, which now has the highest rate of inflation from all over the world at 100 000%. Unemployment is at an estimated 80%, and at current the country sees very little hope of things getting better. It would be unfair of me to presume I know that President Mugabe is to blame for the mess - there is just too much political joisting and rhetoric involved, for someone with no practical knowledge of the area or its people. However, change for the sake of change would appear to be the best course of action.

Mugabe has had a long run of leading the country, seeing it through both good times (independence from white rule) to the bad times they currently sit. For nearly 30 years now he has been the voice of the country - bad or not is not my call. Take the opportunity to read some of the very many news reports available, in lieu of the election, and you can see that the country is at a crossroads. What could swiftly turn into an all out violent civil conflict, could even more easily be diverted if the chance is given for a new voice. It is at a point where the country needs to pull together not separate further.

I don't care much for who runs the country, I only care that whoever does does so to help save and provide better lives for his fellow countrymen/women. Positions of power, such as being a President, are too often seen as being a leader. Position does not equal leader. In times such as these true leaders rise to the occasion to help others, not themselves. Zimbabwe clearly needs leadership to step forward - leadership FOR the people not OF the people.

Leading Is About The Small Things

I brought my friend Drew Dudley, who is the Coordinator Leadership Development at U of T Scarborough, in to do a leadership workshop with some of my classmates. I think understanding the different facets of leadership is an important step in growth no matter what field of work or life you aim to enter.

While he put us through an exercise on understanding social styles and the role that plays in how the team dynamic forms and performs, the end of his workshop came to the same point I came to in my studies of leadership: leadership is about being genuine and the best person you can be no matter what your strengths happen to be. You don't need to be the best at directing people, or the best public speaker, or the highest scorer on a team. Leadership happens in the small, more meaningful, encounters that happen every day, all around you.

Leadership is about being a beacon for being yourself and being comfortable and confident in that fact. People will follow you where you lead them if they can trust you, and trust is built from being true to yourself and true to others. We are not all born with the gifts of a Ghandi, or Martin Luther King Jr., or Bill Clinton, or any other famous leader that comes to your mind. In Drews estimation only about 1% of the entire world is born with that ability, in my estimation is probably far less than even that. However, that does not mean you can not be a leader, it just may mean that you wont be leading entire nations or droves of people.

Leadership happens most often, and within most of our realms of control, in the one-on-one encounters that happen everyday. We can be a leader to our friends, our family, our colleagues - this is where impact happens. We all dream of being the face of the biggest movement or the best business, but these instances will not happen if we can't first learn to lead from within our immediate environments. We must be a beacon.

Drew had one last point, which was this: If after years of being out of someones presence the mere mention of your name brings a smile to their face, a story to mind, or good laugh, and they have nothing but good things to say, then you made an impact - you were a leader. That is the point of real leadership and a lesson we all must come to terms with. We will not likely change the world for millions or billions of people, but we can change the world for the few people we come in contact with everyday. That is where you start. That is where you need to be.

Canadian Conference on Student Leadership

What a weekend! After co-founding the Canadian Conference on Student Leadership last year I was extremely excited to be able to partake in the event again this year in a minor capacity. This time around I was able to take in the experience and absorb so much more because I was able to be in the moment. Last year I was always worried about what I was going to have to do next, what problem I was going to have to help solve, and especially when I was going to get my next wink of sleep. This year was the exact opposite. I was able to attend sessions and listen to both the speakers and the participants as they conversed on the gamut of ideas and information. I found myself lost in their words and being touched at my core. The reasons we had started the conference, namely to network with our fellow peers, to gain experience from professionals, and to learn from our peers, was exactly what was occurring on both a micro and a macro level here this year and I was able to witness it without clouded eyes.

This year saw about 175 delegates attend and last year saw 150. That is about 325 leaders that have walked into the conference with open eyes and minds and left with an abundance of new ideas, inspirations and friends. Watching participants who, before the first day had never met, were now able to hug and cry, share their dreams and aspirations, and laugh with complete strangers, was one of the most memorable experiences I could have hoped to experience.

The conference came from an experience that me and 4 other fellow students when we had the privilege, as leadership mentors at Wilfrid Laurier University, to be sent down to Florida to attend the American National Conference on Student Leadership. The last speaker at this conference was Troy Stende, with his wife Karen. It was a dream come true to have Troy come to our conference and present both a keynote and workshop this year. It was at his keynote to close the American conference that our delegation left so utterly inspired that I think that momentum was exactly why we were moved to create our version here in Canada. It is a truly remarkable character that is able to have people laughing, crying, and sharing and believing in complete strangers, and more importantly with themselves. Just an absolutely genuine person, and someone I am very proud to call a friend. 4 years ago I left a conference by telling Troy you made a difference for me. His vision is to send a ripple of difference throughout the world and I don’t know that he will ever understand just how much he has done to accomplish this goal. 325 amazing young leaders have his inspiration to thank for their individual experiences these past two years and he can feel comfortable knowing that the conference will continue on into the future to affect many more young adults.

I want to thank Pat Alain and Melissa Steadman for continuing Kathryn and my legacy and for stepping it up and making it even better. The two of them did a truly remarkable job with the conference and it is due to their diligence and hard work that the conference ran so smoothly and was such a success. Congratulations to the both of them on what they have achieved as I know that it is a long and difficult task to accomplish with many barriers to overcome, but you did it while making it look easy.

I would also like to thank Melanie Will, Leanne Holland-Brown and Drew Piticco for their continued help in making the conference happen. Without their strong passion for student involvement and hard work the conference simply would not be possible. They are remarkable people and I am constantly blown away by their kindness and sincerity. The world is a better place with them in it.

I am not sure I can even remotely describe how amazing the weekend really was. It is one of those experiences where you leave with this feeling in your stomach like things have changed but your not sure just how yet. I saw innumerable instances where students were obviously affected by what they were experiencing. The thanks that students passed along to me (as I happened to be around) for having started the conference was extremely moving. It made me feel proud that I had even an iota of reason for their learning and growing. I would like to say one thing about this, however. I had very little to do with any of their experience. The conference is what it is and participants take what they do because of the people they are and the character they possess. The conference is nothing if not for their passion and involvement. I am thankful for the praise but certainly not deserving of it.

The leaders of both tomorrow and today are people just like the students who attend conferences such as the CCSL. If we have any chance of seeing a significant positive change within this lifetime, it will come from people such as these, who gather to grow and learn from one another how best to make it happen. We need more people in the world to be leaders. We need more people to stand up for what they believe in and help to influence and pass along the leader disposition to other open minded people.