Leadership for a thriving future
Rethinking and reshaping systems with and for young people - read the full report Co-authored by Caireen Goddard and Eva Keiffenheim
Publication
Leadership for a Thriving Future Rethinking and Reshaping Systems with and for Young People
Leadership for Big Change
In this blog, Big Change CEO Essie North reflects on 12 years of backing bold changemakers and what we've learned about the kind of leadership the future needs.
Today we launch a new Big Change collection of insights into the type of leadership we need to shape a future we want - one where all young people can thrive in life.
We have captured the experience and reflections of the inspiring leaders we work with, co-creating the insights with eight brilliant partners at the forefront of change, and over thirty leaders from the Big Change community.
Combined, they are a provocation - for ourselves and others - to do more to find, champion and support a different kind of leadership for change.
We know that the leaders we need, and back, understand that leadership isn’t scarce, it doesn’t run out. Big change happens when we work together and, instead of holding on to or hoarding power, leaders of systemic social change share power, and enable the people they work with step into theirs. Making things happen without using dominance or control. This type of leadership prioritises mobilising over waiting, connection over control, and courage over comfort.
Finding and supporting leaders with big ideas for change is in our DNA, and we are privileged to have spent 12 years backing people who are working to change systems. We have seen first-hand that it is not just what they do, but how they do it, that creates lasting change.
Our Big Change community of leaders are united by an entrepreneurial spirit and a strong sense of purpose. They are not afraid to challenge the status quo, see old problems through a fresh lens, and test new ways of doing things. From reimagining learning and leading, building a new model of higher education, empowering young people from vulnerable backgrounds, to building new networks of intergenerational leaders and rethinking support for young people at risk of exclusion, they model the change they wish to see in the ways they lead. They have turned their experience and insight into action while embedding intergenerational collaboration across their work.
Leadership means understanding that there is a greater cause beyond yourself... It’s about lifting others as you rise, bringing people with you toward a shared purpose.
Lilitha Buti, YouthxYouth
Through the insights in this paper, we explore four key dimensions of leadership - purpose, agency, relationships and growth - and we look at how these dimensions build from personal to enabling and supporting them at a collective level.
This type of leadership is not to be underestimated; building on these insights we are committed to:
- Holding ourselves to account for how we show up as an organisation as we strive to model the type of change we want to see in the world.
- Exploring how we can continue to embed a different kind of leadership and recognise that our culture, practices and relationships with our partners are a key part of the change we wish to see.
- Continuously pushing ourselves and being intentional in how we find and back leaders who are close to the problems, ensuring that we are expanding who gets to lead.
- Supporting our community of diverse and intergenerational leaders by providing the space, time and support to deepen their own leadership practice and the impact they have, both individually and collectively.
- Working with our community of leaders and partners to share practice, insight and practical tools to support more of this kind of leadership.
- Bridging the collective insight of global leaders who are reshaping systems with and for young people to share, learn and act together with our UK community and young emerging big changemakers.
