Stand alone with pride

Youth leadership is the need of the hour, and will come about when we break free.

Break free from th pack, from the peers, from the taboos and from any efforts to curtail freedom. As a leader every young person must stand alone and challenge oneself to live up to ones own expectations. Need to look ahead, think fresh and be honest to yourself. Often they say, it is very lonely on top, this makes us follow the herd and often fall down from the pedestal of leadership.

Challenging young people everywhere is the only way to build leadership. Need of the hour to enable and equip each to his ability and become a leader. True leadership is to find what makes you stand out and then doing all to make it happen.

Stand up, live your dreams and lead without fear, each follower looks for a leader, the opportunity is endless. Lead on and you will stand up with pride.

Sandeep Dutt
Award Programme Foundation
www.iayp.in

Take the first step

"Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase. Just take the first step." 
- Martin Luther King Jr.


The first step is all that it takes... the toddler starts to run and then moves to gather momentum. Our young people need only one spark to light the fire within. Adults though hesitant to let go, need to understand that a spark creates phenomenal combustible energy, and to challenge young people is our only step to take the world ahead. If it was not for the initiative, there would be no innovation and invention. Need to show the first step alone and then the young will overcome all the challenges and will make the way for us to follow.


Young people think fresh and have no delusion or any baggage to carry. We must give an opportunity to them to build on their talents, and motivate them to excel. Sports, adventure and skills are fantastic opportunity to enable young people, beyond simple academic excellence. We have to challenge young to perform and than rest will all happen...With opportunity comes solutions, there is need to exploit every opportunity and find solutions to enable the young and push them with baby steps to go all the way...

Young is all about choices

"It is our choices...that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities"
- J. K. Rowling


J. K. Rowling has understood the mind of the young very well, and in the last decade has transformed from a teacher to one of the most celebrated authors for young people. The Harry Potter books have in fact been read by all ages, and this affirms the quest for fun and more so be young always! 


We have to think young to be with the young, and this is a challenge for most adults. The youth has a freshness that must be allowed to pervade, the mentors, guides, peers and those trying to guide the young, must challenge the young to self discover and lead. The magical world of Harry Potter has given new insights to the fun and learning the young need. The adventure, curiosity, skills and the need to be fit are well elucidated in the life of Harry and the characters of the famous Potter novels. The young are working on fresh scripts and innovating always, and the adult mentors need to pay heed to their needs and motivate them. The ability of the young to rebel, the free flow of their action and the need to question; are all positive attributes and we need to work our way to help them evolve.


The need for fun, that is paramount has to be much appreciated and this is what we find in the Harry Potter books too. The word fundamental, too has 'fun' in the first three letters and the 'mental' post that. The adults often are a road block in the quest for fun, and this is a challenge for all of us. Let us learn from the adventures of the young help build a better world.

Attempt the impossible

"The young do not know enough to 
be prudent, and therefore they attempt 
the impossible -- and achieve it, 
generation after generation." 
- Pearl S. Buck

Challenging young people everywhere, is the only way to build a better world. The examples of the Silicon Valley, youth in Sports, and young in the army, the adventure bound… all prove a point that the adult boundaries have no meaning for the young. The age and the prudence make us more cautious and often this is a deterrent to change. We need to let the impossible happen and the youth spirit pervade.

Impossible though comes before possible, and once the possible happens, there is belief. Why are we then there to thwart the attempt to impossible, as adults we must work as catalyst and empower young people?