Environmental Advisor and CEO of My Green World, Natalie Kyriacou shares her thoughts on young people and leadership in this powerful piece adapted from her keynote speech at the Australian Women’s Leadership Symposium.
In 2018, at 15 years old, Greta Thunberg ignited the world and set off one of the largest movements in human history.
She stood in front of world leaders, in front of millions of people and said:
“This is all wrong. I shouldn’t be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you!
She said “Right here, right now is where we draw the line. The world is waking up. And change is coming, whether you like it or not.”
Often, we look to the past for examples of great leaders. We cite Steve Jobs, Winston Churchill, Alexander the Great, Bill Gates, Margaret Thatcher and famous examples of people who thrived in business, military, and politics.
But the great leaders are right in front of us. They are unexpected, they are diverse, they are varied, and they make us uncomfortable at times.
They are young people.
They are Greta Thunberg, who reluctantly and surprisingly became the most powerful voice for climate change in the world. A voice that the world needed.
They are Malala Yousafzai, who was thrust into the spotlight for simply wanting an education and for standing up for her right to one. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her fight for the right of every child to receive an education.
They are your children, who, whether you like it or not, are influencing you, changing you, evolving you, challenging you, teaching you, making you uncomfortable, making you be better and do better.
So why, in our conversations about leadership, do we not talk about the power, voice and impact of young people more?
These voices are consistently underestimated and disregarded.
And they are not the leaders of tomorrow. They are the leaders of today. And they are shaping society in profound ways.
Young people have been one of the most powerful forces in creating the modern landscape in which leaders now occupy. A landscape where diversity, social inclusion, and environmental stewardship are becoming key determinants of a leader’s ability to sink or swim.
Young people are our customers, our current and future workforce, the shapers of our policy, they are the heirs to the planet, the architects of the climate movement, the power behind the civil rights movement, the Arab Spring, the Occupy Wall Street Movement, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the MeToo movement.
The Australian landscape has been punctuated by moments of symbolism and reckoning. The Australian election, in particular, was a signal to leaders in Australia that the leadership setting has changed significantly. It showed us that the dominant paradigm that traditionally excluded women, culturally diverse people, Indigenous Australians and young and marginalised people was coming to an end.
It showed us that regardless of whether they vote or not, young people have a major voice in deciding Australia’s future and that protecting their future through climate action and social equity, is not negotiable.
If we want to know the skills, traits and qualities of an effective leader today and in future, why are we not looking towards, and sharing power, with young people?
Last year, eight teenagers sued the Australian Government to prevent a coal mine extension in New South Wales. They said that Australia had a legal duty to protect children when assessing fossil fuel projects.
When young people in the Netherlands sued their government for inaction on climate change, they won. The court ordered the government to curb carbon emissions by 25 percent. A few years later, young people and NGO’s in the Netherlands teamed up and sued Shell for its contribution to greenhouse gas emissions. In an historic judgment, the Court ordered Shell to slash its net carbon dioxide emissions by 45% by 2030. This ruling is having far-reaching consequences for oil and gas companies all over the world, including in Australia.
Actually, young people are filing lawsuits against governments and companies all over the world. In Australia, the US, Canada, Netherlands, Colombia, Pakistan, and Germany, young people are demanding greater social and environmental protection.
Young people are mobilising in the thousands, they are setting up powerful networks, creating policy recommendations, engaging with world leaders, advising company CEO’s and becoming a force to be reckoned with.
On International Women’s Day, a young couple created a Twitter bot to expose the gender pay gap among the world’s biggest companies. When companies tweeted their support of International Women’s Day, the Gender Pay Gap bot would retweet them – adding data on their gender pay gap. When Goldman Sach’s tweeted a message in support of women on International Women’s Day, the Gender Pay Gap bot responded with the text, ‘In this organisation, women’s median hourly pay is 36.8% lower than men’s.’
The campaign went viral, with news outlets proclaiming that the youth and women driven Twitter bot was ‘striking fear in the hearts of CEO’s.
Young people said, “We don’t want to see nice headshots of your female employees. We want you to tell us how you’ve identified your problems, what you’re doing to fix them, and if you have something to shout about, if you’re doing really well — well, show us the data.”
Young people are raising their voices to fight for a better future in a way that has never been seen before. Young people and students have never, in the history of human life on earth, been so loud and so visible. And the world is truly listening.
And the leaders that do ignore them, do so at their own peril.