After 20 Years of Being a CEO, I'm Letting Youth Take the Lead

I’ve had the privilege to serve as a nonprofit CEO at three organizations for more than 20 years now (where did that time go!). Along the way, I’ve had the chance to mentor other aspiring leaders to pass along what I’ve learned. It always feels good to give back in that way.

But enough of that! I have a much more selfish goal today. I want to be mentored. And not by someone further along in their career, but rather by someone younger. Much younger.

That’s why I’m excited that I’ll soon begin a formal mentoring partnership with a small group of youth leaders affiliated with us at UNICEF USA . They are the mentors. I am the mentee.

I want to understand the world from their point of view, to hear their reaction to world events and local issues, learn the voices that influence them and the tools they use to interact with the world around them. I want to know what they might do if faced with issues that cross my desk. I expect to be inspired by their creativity and their belief that the world can, in fact, be changed.

And if I can help them with advice and counsel along the way, great. But that’s not the point this time around.

Today, on Aug. 12, we mark #InternationalYouthDay. One of the great things about working in a UNICEF context is that – beyond this mentoring program – we regularly promote youth participation, elevate youth voice, include youth globally at major meetings and seek their input in our strategies and plans. One way we do that is through UNICEF’s U-Report, a digital platform for youth to speak out individually and collectively. One youth using U-Report is Olga Devic from Serbia. She had this to say:

"The potential of our generation will be visible once we are given the chance to be partners in building a better community. Young people are the most valuable resource that exists in this highly volatile and changing world, so decision-makers and society should not waste it! Imagine what the world would look like if 1.8 billion young people knew that their voices can make a real difference."

Here in the U.S. this week, we are celebrating the City of Houston’s designation as a UNICEF Child Friendly City. This means that Houston has completed research to identify critical needs of the most vulnerable children and youth in the city, developed a local action plan to respond to high-priority needs and completed the initial goals outlined in it. Importantly, it also means the city has established a youth advisory council to bring the perspective of young people into the process, tapping into the potential Olga rightly points out.

I met a number of the youth who are part of that council when I visited Houston last year. Something I learned? If you want to have hope for the future of our cities, nation and the world, spend a little time with them.

I also meet regularly with youth involved in our UNICEF Clubs at high schools and colleges across the county, our regional youth representatives and our National Youth Council. Same goes for all of them. They give me hope.

This year we are also sending a U.S. representative to a global UNICEF program called Youth Foresight Fellows. It is a fellowship program that equips young leaders with the skills to imagine future scenarios that have an impact on young people. In that context, “foresight” is not just a word, but a methodology. Foresight uses certain processes and tools to help young people analyze trends, identify opportunities and challenges and envision possible, probable and preferred future scenarios. Last year’s fellows identified as emerging issues of significance the depletion of resources and waste, dramatic tech disparity, bankrupted education systems and weaponization of AI.

What we’ve learned is that youth are hungry for the tools to lead. In one study, 96 percent of youth think leadership is important to address the country’s most pressing issues; but only one in three say they have the skills they need to be prepared to lead.

Conversely, I won’t have the skills to lead in a meaningful way without the regular input, ideas and influence of young people. I’m certain my new mentors will help me be a more effective leader and I eagerly await their input on how UNICEF can better prepare them to be leaders in their own right.

I look forward to passing along what I learn from them to the rest of you later in the year. Stay tuned.