What if your job was to work with high school students in a program that helps them learn more about their communities? How would you go about reaching teenagers these days?
Last week Mark Sanborn took on that topic as he thanked and challenged philanthropists, volunteers and students who make Leader’s Challenge a reality.
(Leader’s Challenge is a variety of participatory learning programs for high school students called Ignite, Global Challenge and Colorado Close Up. They’re all designed to get students more involved in their community, government and world).
To be fair, Mr. Sanborn, whose speech was called “High Impact Leadership,” may not have completely been focusing on the topic of “text messaging.”
But, he did ask everyone in the audience a related question, “How many of us are trying something new.”
You see, today, years after it came into vogue with young people, still only a tiny fraction of adults know how to “text” their daughters, sons, nieces and grandchildren from their phones.
Try something new?! Certainly, that’s what Erin Riska and the staff at Ignite program at Leader’s Challenge had to do. She told us:
Students don’t really check their email that much anymore. Instead, they text each and check their Facebook accounts. So, if we in the Leader’s Challenge office were going to be able to reach them, we had to change our own behavior.”
In 2007, Leader’s Challenge raised $440,000 to support their new and inventive programs for young people. This year, they’re on their way to another successful fundraising campaign.
Mark Sanborn was thanking the audience last week for a job well done. A job that invests in the power and promise of the next generation.
John Maxwell has said that “Leadership is influence.” Mark suggested that we need to add one crucial word to that definition – “Leadership is positive influence,” he told us.
Sanborn’s best example of “Positive Influence?” Irwin McManus, the pastor of the Mosaic Church in Los Angeles, who has said:
We spend so much time worrying about our kids being good – not breaking the rules, getting into trouble, and basically behaving – that we often forget to invite them to be great.
At Leader’s Challenge, they’re doing exactly that. And if you know of ways to help them raise more money, just suggest something new. I’m sure they’ll be willing to give it a whirl.
5 comments ↓
.” As an independent college admissions counselor, I utilize facebook and text messaging to reach my clinets on a regular basis. Teenagers lead busy lives, and you often have to reach them on the fly, so to speak. It has proved vital to my business.”
Michael,
Great post. As a Main Street program manager in Ellensburg Washington where Central Washington University students account for nearly 40 percent of our population, reaching out in new ways has become a necessity.
Last year we launched a myspace page for the Ellensburg Downtown Association and today with more than 1400 “friends”, including many who don’t read the local newspaper or watch local television news, it’s become one of our programs most important marketing and outreach tools.
More recently, as in the last month, we’ve added an Ellensburg Downtown Association page on facebook and are reaching an even larger audience of this important target audience.
We’re pretty sure that we’re not using either of these new tools to their fullest potential yet, but we are using them and that’s the most important thing. As a local downtown revitalization program struggling to engage a new generation of volunteers, customers, and leaders, trying new tools and finding new ways to communicate is not just a good idea, it’s an imperative. We simply can’t allow 40 percent of our customer base to feel disenfranchised because we’re unable to communicate with them on their terms.
No one knows leadership in the 21st Century any better than Mark Sanborn. As a former National FFA President (an office that many believe is harder to win than a seat in the US Senate) Sanborn knows how to positively influence young minds. His two sons are knocking on the door of teenage adolescence, and you can bet that he and his wife are inviting them to be great – every single day. And Mark is always trying to learn something new, so he truly walks his talk.
The attendees at this event were indeed fortunate to have Sanborn and Mecklenburg in the house!
Thanks Wade and Eric,
Both of you guys are great examples of Irwin McManus’ quote – “invite them to be great” – as you work with young people every day.
Wade at Educational Latitudes –
http://educationallatitudes.com/meet-wade/
And Eric at Generation Why –
http://www.generationwhy.com/
For that matter you both work with high schools and college students around the country – and should meet each other. And keep up the good work, both of you.
And Timothy,
Thanks so much. The Ellensburg story is amazing. Just do a search of our blog and you’ll read more about the downtown association that just won’t quit. Timothy told Sheryl and I recently, “I can’t tell you how important I think social networking and web 2.0 tools are to the Ellensburg Downtown Association.”
No one is more willing to try something new than Timothy Bishop. Thanks.
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