Scouting Teaches Lifelong Leadership Skills for Managers
The scouting movement teaches kids real-world leadership skills through fun, activities and peer-groups based on authentic leadership. The lessons learned at an early age carry through to working managers. The author of a book explaining this concept seeks stories supporting this premise.
(PRWEB) May 23, 2005 -- For nearly a century, more than 110 million American
men started learning lessons of leadership at an early age. It was in their
formative years on a camping trip with the Boy Scouts when they learned lessons
of character, confidence and leadership that would stay with them for the rest
of their lives.
According to the Search Institute and Carnegie Council on
Adolescent Development, there are six critical elements of healthy youth
development, all of which are positive outcomes of scouting:
1. Strong
values and character
2. Positive self-image
3. Caring and authentic
relationships with others.
4. An eagerness to learn.
5. Productive time
usage.
6. Social skills.
According to management consultant and
leadership expert Scott Love, the leadership skill sets that are taught to youth
in scouting can impact them years later when they are managers. Love says, "When
it comes to developing into the type of leader that can attract and inspire
followers, the model of leadership taught to youth by the Boy Scouts is the same
model that is consistent with a high performing leader. When you teach a
sixteen-year-old to lead a fifteen-year-old, it has to be authentic leadership
and not based on a position of authority. It is this authentic leadership that
works. In today's world, the position of authority is losing its effectiveness
with managers as a means to get things done. Today people want to be inspired
and want to follow a real leader."
Love says that people will do the
minimum when led based purely on position of authority. But to get employees to
perform at peak performance levels, it must be driven by a source that is
authentic, inspiring, and congruent. According to Love, "We have no control over
others. We only have control over ourselves. But if we live and work based on
this model, we will positively influence those around us and inspire them to
want to perform at a higher level. Management is more about how you direct the
work of others. Leadership is how you manage yourself. When we learn to manage
ourselves in a way which is consistent with this model, then others cannot help
but follow someone like this. We are wired genetically and conditioned socially
to respond to principles of legitimate influence, which is exactly why this
leadership model taught to boy scouts is effective in the corporate world as
well."
Love's latest book under development explores the model of
leadership that is taught in scouting and why it is a model that adult managers
should consider. The book title is: "I Learned it in the Boy Scouts: Leadership
Secrets for Managers." Currently under production with representation by ZSH
Literary Agents, the book explains how this education at an early age impacts
the performance of future managers by using the model of The Scout Law, the
Scout Oath, and other slogans and stories unique to scouting.
Love is
seeking contributions for his work from former scouts who are now managing teams
of employees. If you are interested in contributing, please contact Love with
your story about the lesson you learned in scouting and how that has helped you
become an effective leader as an adult.
Love can be reached at
828-225-7700 or through his website at www.scottlove.com.
Contact:
Scott
Love
828-225-7700
e-mail protected from spam bots
SCOTT LOVE ASSOCIATES
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/5/prweb242916.htm