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400 Minnesota leaders gather for Howland Symposium on June 6
By Dale A. Blyth, University of Minnesota Extension
MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL (6/12/2007) -- Dr. Margaret “Meg” Wheatley, a noted author and international consultant on leadership, intrigued an audience of youth workers, funders and community leaders with her insights about international leadership and ways to build leaders among today’s youth.
Helping University of Minnesota Extension launch its three-year initiative, “Reweave the World: Investing in Tomorrow’s Leadership,” Wheatley told the crowd that leadership characteristics are common around the world. When asked to describe a leader, responses are universally about helping people feel valued, encouraging them to grow and assume responsibility, and instilling the importance of making contributions to the greater good.
Wheatley emphasized leadership should be less command and control oriented. Rather, leadership should be about making connections and networking, “reweaving the fabric of our communities.” She went on to say that healthy communities focus on what’s possible. They talk among themselves, seek out and energize youth and expect leadership to emerge everywhere.
Concluding her talk, Wheatley discussed the leadership qualities of youth. They bring a strong relationship approach, they are wired and connected, they know how to network, they are good at teaching each other, they have experience in a multicultural world, and they have a desire to work together. Even so, youth today need adults who are really there for them, she said. They demand respectful, open communication, need to be taught to persevere and shown how to plan and structure activities.
During the course of Wheatley’s visit, nearly 400 people were asked to help shape this new, three-year initiative. It is designed to help people rethink what leadership is needed in the multicultural high-tech world of the 21st Century, and challenge Minnesota to transform the way it provides opportunities for youth to prepare for such roles. As a result, the University of Minnesota Extension Center for 4-H and Community Youth Development is planning the next set of speakers, conversations, and deliberate efforts to support the initiative. Harvard University’s Terri Sullivan, the first Howland Family Endowed Chair and a former senior vice president at Padilla Speer Beardsley, will join the Center in July 2007 to write about ways to engage young people.
Wheatley is co-founder and President Emerita of The Berkana Institute, a global, charitable foundation founded in 1992 that is dedicated to serving life-affirming leaders. She has worked in dozens of countries, mostly in the Third World, supporting local initiatives committed to strengthening a community’s leadership capacity and self-reliance. Wheatley focuses on the wisdom and wealth already present in a community’s people, traditions and environment.
The Howland Symposium is designed to bridge research and practice around critical youth development issues. It is sponsored by the Minnesota 4-H Foundation's Howland Family Endowment in Youth Leadership Development and the University of Minnesota Extension Center for 4-H and Community Youth Development.
The University of Minnesota Extension Center for 4-H and Community Youth Development’s mission is to serve as a catalyst, resource, and advocate to ensure quality community opportunities for all young people to learn, lead and contribute. The Center’s goal is to make a measurable difference in the quality, availability and impact of out of school time opportunities for Minnesota’s youth.
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Any use of this article must include the byline or following credit line:
Dale A. Blyth, Ph.D., is associate dean for youth development and director of the University of Minnesota Extension Center for 4-H and Community Youth Development.
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URL: http://
www.cyfernet.mes.umn.edu/extensionnews/2005/youthleadership07.html This page was updated June 13, 2007
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