Salute Our Young Leaders

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This quarter I'm teaching two sections of organizational behavior at the Naval Postgraduate School.  My students include helicopter and jet instructors, FBI staff, and other military officers.  As a civilian, I enjoy coming on campus on Tuesdays, the day when everyone wears his/her uniform.  You can see people in the same branch of the military, saluting each other, the lower ranking officer initiating the salute out of respect to the higher rank.

I want to salute the men and women who are working with young leaders around the world.  They are paying it forward, giving respect to those who will run organizations around the globe some day.  Right now, most people only see them as kids; immature, challenging, and only "future" leaders.  Unfortunately, this prevailing attitude sets them up to fail, missing strategic developmental windows when character and skills can be obtained, quite early.  I salute the parents, teachers and children/youth workers who see what I do, leaders NOW in these kids.

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