On the social networking site LinkedIn, the group discussions provide an interesting insight in the diversity of perspectives and opinions. Just a few days ago, Yogesh Bosmiya, the leader of an Indian property development company, posted the following question on the ”Leaders & Thinkers” discussion group:

“How do we create passionate leaders for the country’s future, what can we do from our end? Is it educating the youth, or being a role model, or showing them the path?” in the few days following, 27 contributions from management, education, philosophy and politics engaged in the ongoing discussion.

http://tinyurl.com/4z55uj3

Working on this topic with thought leaders from around the globe in the No Fear community is an exciting area. For those of us following discussion like the one above or working with the Playstation generation it is plainly obvious that the leaders coming from the young generation have fundamentally different expectations of their leaders and of the organizations they are part of compared to people over 30 today.

Those young people grew up in a world that (for them) always had the internet and mobile communication, bringing “connectiveness” and more authenticity and immediacy with it.

Developing the next generation of leaders will mean nurturing them to leverage their strengths.

And yes, nurturing will involve listening to their originality and fresh ideas of doing things and what and HOW it should get done and not imposing a set conditioning that might have worked well enough with the generation of our fathers.

Our role is to help unlock “the new” and allow the next leaders to develop THEIR full potential, this is what a “current” leader (and parent for that matter) is and this is what he or she is supposed to do, to deliver to the organization and to the success of the next generation of leaders.

We can’t show them the new path’s final destination. But we can help them in discovering their path and help them to walk or run it successfully, by providing them with freedom and guidance, some direction and moral guidance and high expectations on their contributions.