KidLead Insights

  Exciting Changes Coming Soon We are gearing up for an exciting reboot as we pivot to KidLead 2.0. Our impetus the last 15 years focused on training educators and children-youth workers to license LeadYoung curricula. Our new focus involves empowering parents to develop the leadership potential in their own children. In 2024, we will launch KidLead Academy, a digital course designed to train moms and dads -- perhaps even some grandpa's and grandma's -- to invest in future leaders. We will hit FaceBook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube. Stay tuned. Exciting changes are coming soon!

It's an age-old question. Google it and you'll get millions of responses. Yet, in this 7-minute video, you'll hear some of the latest research related to genetics. You may be surprised, but leadership ability is actually a combination of nature and nurture. Click the screen for this LeadYoung Institute YouTube video.

There's a lot of confusion about capacity and development when it comes to leaders, especially young leaders. Here's a 1-page article that CADA published, offering some of my thoughts on the issue. Click HERE to read.

We're excited to see the release of info related to LeadYoung Institute, our localized approach to identifying and developing 10-18 year olds, gifted in organizational leadership. Click HERE to read a story published by Conejo Valley Lifestyle magazine.

While I love teaching leadership and org change at amazing institutions such as USC, the Naval Postgraduate School and Pepperdine, I know that if we're going to fill the leadership pipeline with effective and ethical leaders, we need to get to them while they're moldable, not moldy. Thus, I've started a free training video series for teen leaders called Young Leader Feeder. They're 2-5 minute PowerPoint videos with age-sized content I teach my MBA students. Here's a link to the first 2 and please pass the word:  https://youtu.be/NkTlx8cawBY  (EQ: Self-Awareness)  https://youtu.be/ILRCbfFKOSE  (EQ: Self-Management)

This morning, I began meeting with principals and school administrators, introducing them to LeadYoung Institute. Although I've now sent emails to all public and private schools in the Conejo Valley, I'm curious as to who the early adopters are. My first meeting was with Mrs. Carey Bartlow, Principal of Cypress Elementary School in Newbury Park. I was very impressed with her recognition of students who were social catalysts as well as understanding the difference between leading and administrating.  I've found this is more rare than we'd like to think among educators. So while I'm excited to meet more local educators, I'm very impressed with Principal Bartlow. No doubt Cypress has a bright future with her leadership. http://www.conejousd.org/cypress/Home.aspx

We are excited to announce the launch of the world's 1st program to identify and develop 10-18 year olds, gifted in leadership ability. LeadYoung Institute (LYI) is a local program, designed to be scalable for other communities, seeking to recruit organizational leadership talent among the very young. LYI begins its focus on educating adults and partnering with schools, faith communities and civic groups, for the purpose of nominating qualified candidates to join a network of future leaders, who receive project-based training, modeled after executive programs. We also plan to use LYI as a means for doing research that will catalyze the efficacy of young leader development.  For more info, email us at info@kidlead.com or call Dr. Nelson at 831.869.8532.

We're official!  LeadYoung Training Systems is open for business.  Check us out at www.LeadYoungTraining.com.  Now you and/or your fave organization can obtain the world class organizational leadership training curricula for 2-23 year olds, without being certified. Although Amazon.com has our materials as well, we offer a big discount if you buy directly from us; avoiding the mega-middle man (although we appreciate Amazon's distribution).  We'll still offer certification for those who desire to use it most effectively, but tell everyone you know that a new generation of effective and ethical leaders are on their way!

Years ago, we met a preteen named Jeff DeWit, who attended the same church as us. Jeff eventually became a family friend who babysat our sons. He went to USC, then became a successful stock trader, got married, and is now the state treasurer of Arizona. A few months ago, Donald Trump asked Jeff to be the COO of his campaign and we know the results.  So while Jan. 20 is the inauguration of the 45th President of the United States. It's also my behind the scenes view of how a 12-year old can grow up to become a very influential leader and why we all need to be looking differently at the children, preteens and teens around us, seeing their leadership potential and developing it as soon as possible. Here's an LA Biz article I wrote, related to this. Click HERE .

All LeadYoung Training curricula, age-sized for 3-23 year old leaders, are designed to develop organizational leadership training skills in the very young.  To do this involves selecting a specific student who is in charge of leading 3-5 of his/her peers in a project with a clear goal. This individual wears a Leader Lanyard, to let the others know s/he should not be hijacked, but allowed to lead. It is the lanyard of responsibility, NOT authority. As the Los Angeles Chair of the Institute for Management Studies, I work with billion dollar corporations, assisting them in developing their leaders.  One of the most difficult things they face is promoting technicians to managerial positions. Titles do not a leader make. Leaders understand the power of synergy, when a team outperforms the sum total of the individual participants. Leaders elevate the IQ of a group, beyond that of its smartest member(s). LeadYoung's project-based training curricula are modeled after executive pro...

No matter what you think of Walmart, the world's #1 retailer knows how to get things done. I interviewed the Director of Global Strategy and Leadership Development, Dr. Jay McNaught, who did his dissertation on how leaders make decisions.  One of the reasons that good leaders make bad decisions is because they're unfamiliar with their preferred decision making style and how it is less effective in certain situations. We need to help young leaders discover theirs and then understand its strengths and weaknesses.  To read my L.A. Biz article on this, click HERE .

On December 8, our oldest son informed our family of John Glenn's passing. Our youngest then reminded his brothers that he was the one who got to sit on the famous astronaut's lap. One of the best ways to develop leadership potential in youth is to introduce them to great leaders. This could be as simple as an interaction with your boss or pursuing a photo op with a famous leader. These interactions create a comfort level with people of power and often inspire them to emulate the same attitude.  The idea that children should be seen and not heard is fading in most families. But it's a step further to provide positive interactions with influential leaders, even going out of your way to make this happen. If the leader balks at the opportunity to meet your kids, then chances are s/he wasn't worth meeting anyway.

Engaging Millennials in Leadership As millennials (born approx. 1980-2000) pour into the workforce, many of them are taking on ample responsibilities, especially as boomers retire in droves.  Responding to cultural differences of this generation is vital for those of us older.  Here's an article I wrote for L.A. Biz on how the senior vice president of human resources for the LA Clippers NBA franchise develops young leaders. Click HERE .

While Tuesday's election is a vivid example of why we need to do a better job, raising more and better leaders from early ages, another issue has to do with what we expect from our leaders. I wrote an article for L.A. Biz that explains the need to clearly define what we mean by leadership when we talk about it. Click HERE to read this short article.

The O Factor, a book on leadership ability among 2-22 year olds, offers a very unique look into what gives less than 10% of students such an exceptional ability at influencing others.  Organizational leadership talent is quite different than other domains of giftedness such as academics, art, creativity, and physicality.  Wouldn't it be interesting if we could identify future CEO's, presidential candidates, and entrepreneurs, decades before they're formally recognized?  Well, we can; getting to them while they're pliable in their morality and cognitive abilities. The "O" in The O Factor stands for organization, the ability to get others to achieve together what they would not or could not as individuals.  You can see it on the soccer fields, in school lunchrooms, and local neighborhoods.  Leadership ability is recognized by the US Department of Education and 15 US states as a domain in the field of gifted and talented education, yet practically nothing has...

Iconoclast : a person who attacks cherished beliefs, traditional institutions, etc., as being based on error or superstition. a breaker or destroyer of images I do not believe that everyone can become a leader, if you define leadership as the ability to accomplish together what you cannot as individuals.  I do not believe that leaders are all adults, meaning that people as young as 3 lead and as young as 10 can be taught to lead with sophistication.  I do not believe that people who understand youth, understand leadership and those who understand leadership, know how to identify and develop adolescent leaders.  I do not believe that teaching gifted and talented students how to lead is the same as identifying and training students gifted in leadership.  I do not believe that just calling something leadership is actually leadership, in that most school and adolescent "leadership" programs are actually about self-esteem, academics, confidence, character and any num...

In our upcoming e-news (Q2 2015), I introduce a 1-page brief on the differences between teachers and educators.  I don't mean to be disparaging, but some of the ills we've created in our educational systems, like all corporate, social and civic organizations, is that we've recruited the right people into the wrong places.  Most people I've met in schools, private and public, seem highly committed, motivated, and well-intended.  Certainly exceptions exist, but when we put savvy non-leaders into leadership roles, organizations eventually grow stale, if not implode.  The primary reason that so many schools languish is that they've elevated people with teacher-mindsets into roles of administration.  When you're not interested in learning yourself, hearing new ideas, and exploring with "what if" (educators) the organization will languish.  Good ideas are a dime a dozen, but great ones, the ones possessing th...

In 2015, we launch a SheLead audio series involving 10-15 minute interviews with women leaders, thinkers, authors and practitioners. Being a bit of a leadership geek, I collected over 700 books on the subject.  Obviously, there are a large handful, okay, an armful, of books I devoured; provocative and ah-ha celebrations of new thinking. But recently, my favorite author has emerged as Barbara Kellerman.  She's with the Kennedy School at Harvard University.  Her many books on leadership (Google them or do a search on Amazon.com) have challenged my thinking.  Her contrarian attitude combined with a fine mind, results in a lot of pot stirring for those of us steeped in the literature.  You'll hear from Barbara and others in this upcoming series, featured in this blog and the www.shelead.org website.  Look for it and if you want a good read on leadership, try Kellerman.

Although it's 7 years old, I'm reading a powerful book called "Through the Labyrinth" by Eagly and Carli.  In the book they dispel the idea that there now exists a glass ceiling for women leaders, as in the last decade, women made large advances in leadership roles.  Yet, they recognize the challenge most face, replacing the "glass ceiling" metaphor (coined in 1986) for a "labyrinth," a complex maze for gaining influence.   Here are 7 reasons they offer of why the glass ceiling metaphor is misleading* 1. It implies women have equ al access to entry-level positions (they don't always; it's not just a top issue) 2. It assumes an absolute barrier at a specific high level, whereas it varies in organizations 3. It suggests barriers to women are difficult to detect and unforeseen (quite often you can identify them) 4. It assumes a single, homogeneous barrier, ignoring the complexity and variety of obstacles women leaders face 5. It fails...

As Bob Dylan sang, "The times, they are a changin'." So how does that resonate with new economies?  During the industrial age, it was commerce based on resources, widgets, factories and raw materials.  Then dawned the information age, where knowledge became the trump card for what drove the economy, jobs, and demand.  But according to Harvard, we may be moving into a new realm where research shows women hold an edge on us guys... the human economy.  While I'm not prone to quote long passages from others, following is an excerpt from a robust HBR blog you might enjoy, followed by a link of the article. The management community knows on some deep level that humanity is important to enterprise success. In hiring, a   recent study   of over 1,000 CEOs indicates that above all they seek candidates who are “collaborative, communicative, creative, and flexible.” (Contrast this with the Knowledge Economy’s premium on sheer intellect.) A recent study entitled ...