Tag: Leadership

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Signing day

signingAs this article is being written, we are in the midst of National Signing Day, the day on which the talented and sought-after high school football players announce their intentions on which college to attend and continue not only their education but the pursuit of their chosen sport. Fax machines in college recruiting offices start humming at daybreak. Fans of their favorite teams eagerly watch the Web or their Twitter feeds as the coach or athletic department announce which of the players they’ve pursued will shine on their program with their presence, and friends and families of the players are ready to congratulate them as they don their future school colors.

In sports-crazy America, this has become a rite of passage for those players who have devoted uncounted hours and resources to playing the game. Continue reading “Signing day”

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Are you a tougher leader than your Scouts?

raftingIf you picked up Scouting magazine this month, you undoubtedly read the cover story about the National Geographic Channel’s reality-competition series Are You Tougher than a Boy Scout? which airs this spring. It pits current Scouts against adult former Scouts in tests of skill and strength typical of high-adventure activities.

The article describes shooting the first day of competition, in which participants rappel down a cliff, jump into waiting whitewater rafts and navigate rushing rapids. As the story goes: Continue reading “Are you a tougher leader than your Scouts?”

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Improving your own leadership skills

Scouting aims to teach leadership to our young people through the methods we use, but it’s equally important that our adult volunteers take the opportunity to improve their own leadership skills.

Adult leader training courses provide the nuts & bolts of how to do the job, but few actually teach leadership in a more abstract sense. Wood Badge, notably, is one in which leadership and life skills are emphasized.

Fortunately, leadership can be taught, but it’s important to know just what leadership is. Continue reading “Improving your own leadership skills”

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Promoting your own ideas for change

Scouting has seen a lot of change in the first hundred years, even though the mission and aims have remained the same. Within our units, changes in the program often affect us too. But while the methods and values of Scouting remain constant, we often find ourselves in need of changing things within our units to more closely align ourselves with those values.

We also find that we may need a better way to do some things in order to facilitate a better experience for the boys. For example, we might need a different approach to equipment, fund-raising, or procedures.

Change can be led by anyone with a valuable idea and the support from others, but for various reasons, the committee chair is usually in the best position to advocate change. Continue reading “Promoting your own ideas for change”

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Scouting’s “one piece of paper”

Most successful leaders didn’t get that way by accident. Leadership is a learned skill, based on guiding principles and developed through experience. For an organization, these guiding principles are usually codified in a mission statement, which members of that organization follow in carrying out their responsibilities.

In addition to a mission, true leaders need a moral compass that guides their stewardship and service within their organizations. For most, the way to arrive at which way their moral compass points is through introspection and careful consideration of their personal values and vision. Continue reading “Scouting’s “one piece of paper””