Youth Leadership Series
Youth's Guide

prepared by Randall S. Peterson

Copyright ©  2002  Regents of the University of Minnesota. All rights reserved.

Welcome to the Minnesota 4-H Youth Development Youth Leadership Project! This project is designed to help you learn about leadership. It will also encourage and help you apply what you are learning to real community decision making. Be sure you read this guide before you begin your project activities because it will make your work easier.

The Importance of Learning Leadership

Leaders are not only the people making headlines in the national news. They are people just like you who are trying to work with other people to solve problems. Whether you are working with one or a million other people, you are a leader.

The difference between someone who is a leader and someone who is not, is that the leader is trying to solve problems and make the world a better place. This is very important to remember because, as Eleanor Roosevelt said:

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."

If you want to make a difference, you will be helped by learning a number of leadership skills. This project is designed to teach you those skills.

The Big Picture

According to the staff of the Reflective Leadership Center at the University of Minnesota's Hubert H. Humphrey Institute, there are six ways most people define or view leadership (there is a workbook to help you understand each one):

1. Leadership is the traits people have: the traits you were born with will decide your leadership ability or style (workbook 1 is Understanding my TRAITS).
   
   
2. Leadership is the situation you are in: the situation tells you how you should act as a leader (workbook 2 is Reading the SITUATION).
   
   
3. Leadership is the organization you are in: leadership is making things happen in an organization (workbook 3 is Mastering the ORGANIZATION).
   
   
4. Leadership is power: you need power to get things done (workbook 4 is Appreciating POWER).
   
   
5. Leadership is vision for the future: leaders need to know where they are leading (workbook 5 is Seeing the VISION).
   
   
6. Leadership is ethical action: leaders need to act according to their values (workbook 6 is Acting with ETHICS).

In addition to these six ways of viewing leadership, the Reflective Leadership Center has a seventh way or view of leadership. That view (seventh) is called Reflective Leadership. It is the courage to act on what you believe and the ability to use the skills of the other six views. This is covered in workbook 7, called Reflecting on ACTION.

The Seventh View theory, developed by Dr. Robert Terry, defines the organization of the 4-H leadership material.

How the Project Works

This project has seven workbooks to match the seven views of leadership. Start with the first workbook and work though to the seventh, because each one depends on the one before it.

Each workbook has 18 individual activities, one video segment to see and discuss, and one large group game or activity. Your County Extension Office has the Youth Leadership Organizer's Guide (your project leader should also have this) which has the details and rules for the large group activities and copies of the videos.

In this project we expect you to:

F	attend meetings to discuss project activities, see the video, and participate in the group activity for each workbook;
F	do the activities in your workbook;
F	find a mentor (or ask your project leader to help you find one) to help you think about what you are learning in the project this year (make sure she/he gets the "Youth Leadership Mentor's Guide");
F	meet often with your mentor to discuss what you are learning in the project or work through any questions you may have;
F	get involved in a leadership role in your club or your community.

If you have questions about what you should be doing in this project, be sure to ask your project leader. Good luck and have fun!!

Produced by Communication and Educational Technology Services, University of Minnesota Extension.

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