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I don’t think it’s ever too young to start learning leadership skills. That’s why I was so pumped when I found on Flickr what seems to be a plan for teaching leadership to 7th graders. It’s ambitious but concrete. Check it out:

In 5th grade, I took a mandatory course on peer mediation—and it changed my life. It forced me from an early age to see conflict as compromise and disagreement as opportunity. It also taught me lifelong lessons, such as the power of active listening and empathy. This early awareness has definitely helped me in both personal and professional situations in my adult life. Even if I don’t always handle all situations perfectly, I think I approach them better than I would have without this class.

An ambitious curriculum like the one above would do the same for these young people. A fair number of thought leaders, such as Ashoka’s Bill Drayton, are calling for more empowerment of young people. Just because they are young doesn’t mean they can’t do great things, and we should help them reach their full potential, if they desire it. I’m not sure how this lesson plan worked out, but it certainly inspires me. I hope it went well! We could definitely be learning similar lessons as adults.

Here’s the original Flickr post.

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