Secrets to Success for Future Leaders
Every day I walk around Georgetown University, I am absolutely amazed at the level of talent, drive, and ambition in our student body. As I walk from class to class, I wonder to myself how many Presidents, Congressmen, CEOs, Generals, and Entrepreneurs are walking around me. We’re all attending the same classes, living in the same dorms, and asking the same questions: “How hard will this accounting exam be?” “Which internships should I apply to?” “Does my resume look good enough?” and perhaps most importantly, “Piano or Ad Mo?”
These are all important questions, but I’ve noticed one incredibly important question that we don’t seem to ask ourselves enough: “What kind of leader do I want to be?”
No matter how much we dress up college in exams, internships, superdays, and parties, college is a period of self-reflection and discovery. It’s the last stage of youth in our lives when we decide who we are, meaning where our passion and purpose intersect.
My passion is leadership development. Nothing gets me more excited than talking to a group of young, bright students about the responsibility and power of leading people — about how their values and actions serve as inspiration for their peers. The reason I am so passionate about leadership development is because it brings me gratitude. Showing people that their lives have the potential to lift others through their leadership brings a warmth I cannot do justice with words.
My purpose is preparing the next generation to lead us. A whopping 46%, nearly half, of the workforce will be millennials by 2020 according to the University of North Carolina. That’s an astounding figure, but few of us have been trained as leaders and grappled with these questions. In other words, a growing leadership shortage is opening in our business and government worlds. I see tremendous leadership qualities in my peers and as I watch my friends apply themselves vigorously in challenging classes, clubs, and internship, I believe our future as leaders grows brighter by the day. However, given that only 19 percent of organizations say that their leaders effectively meet business goals and only 18 percent say their leaders effectively develop other leaders, we need to do more.
The intersection of these two, my passion to develop better leaders, and my purpose to prepare my generation to lead, is my upcoming book, Next Gen Leadership: Secrets to Success for Future Leaders. This project, all 10 months of it, has been the most gratifying, illuminating, unbelievable experience of my life. After 50 interviews, dozens of articles and papers, hundreds of hours in front of the computer, and 40,000 words of writing, I am so excited to share this book with you all. Nothing gets me more excited to stay up until 3 am writing or drive 3 hours for an interview than leadership development and the tremendous success you will accomplish as leaders.
This book is all about leadership for millennials and its lessons apply to any team dynamic in which you find yourself. It’s a collection of 10 leadership lessons that all come together to provide a comprehensive handbook for you as you prepare to graduate and enter the world. It compiles stories from famous entrepreneurs like Jeff Hoffman and Patrick Lee, CEOs, military officers, and college students like me. These stories are coupled with peer-reviewed research to illustrate each lesson and how you can implement it in your teams.
Most importantly, I hope that this book inspires you to find the place where your passion and purpose intersect like I did.
This is the first in a series of posts about my book, Next Gen Leadership: Secrets to Success for Future Leaders. If you’d like to contact me, please feel free to email me at hst7@georgetown.edu or connect with me on social: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.
Also, you can find my book on Amazon — here is the link to buy it: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KMJQ2MK
