The Long Game Brief - 3rd Edition: June Brief: Who Is Developing the Next Generation?

Some of the most important leadership lessons I learned did not come from a classroom. They came from showing up to work, learning from experienced tradespeople, making mistakes, and earning trust.

If people are not given opportunities to work, learn responsibility, solve problems, and interact with customers, where will they develop the skills that future organizations need?

I grew up on a farm raising Hereford cattle. Most of my free time was spent working in the fields and barns, caring for and preparing our cattle for show. Long before I ever had a "real" job off the farm, those experiences taught me valuable lessons about life and leadership.

They taught me to:

• Show up on time

• Work with people I didn't always know or understand

• Take direction from others

• Solving problems when things didn't go as planned

• Accept accountability for my actions

• Earn trust through consistency and effort

Today, organizations often talk about workforce shortages, and those concerns are real. Yet one of the most effective ways to address future workforce challenges is to recognize that leadership development begins long before someone becomes a supervisor.

Future leaders are developed through first jobs, apprenticeships, internships, mentorships, and the countless experiences that teach responsibility, teamwork, and service to others.

The Long Game of Leadership asks a different question. Instead of asking, "Who can help us today?" it asks, "Who are we preparing for tomorrow?"

When organizations eliminate entry-level opportunities, they may reduce costs in the short term. But years later, they often wonder why they struggle to find qualified leaders, skilled workers, and engaged employees.

As graduation season comes to an end and students take on summer opportunities, perhaps the question is larger than whether they can find a job. The more important question may be whether today's institutions, businesses, governments, schools, tribes, and community organizations are intentionally creating the experiences that develop tomorrow's leaders.

Stewardship is not simply maintaining what we inherited.

It is preparing others to carry it forward.

Leadership development does not begin when someone receives authority. It begins when someone is given an opportunity.