back to future

Back To The Future, part 2

But what we need to prepare for life is not only formal education. We need a foundation for growth, on which the education we obtain will flourish and blossom.

What we learn in our early years, from kindergarten to grade 6, is most of we need in this life, as Robert Fulghum writes in his book, “All I need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten”. Most of that knowledge remains in our memories and gradually decreases, until only 5% remains upon college graduation. Now, imagine if that pattern could change, or even better - revert! Create change or change will create you.

And so, Robert Fulghum describes the basic rules learned in the sandbox at nursery school: share everything, play fair, don't harm people, put things back where you found them, clean up your own mess, don't take things that aren't yours, say you're sorry when you hurt somebody, wash your hands before you eat, live a balanced life, learn some and think some, and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some. When you go out into the world, watch for traffic, hold hands and stick together.

How do you build the foundation for future and sustainable leaders? Start here! Teach these basic lessons. Then, ask a few simple questions such as: what are your hopes and dreams? What future do you want for yourself? Who or what inspires you?

To build a nation we need to focus on our treasure, our children! Educating youth is essential; the foundation of knowledge becomes solid when put in practice and to great use. But education is just the beginning. We must teach our young ones to LOOK, just as Fulghum says. " LOOK. Look both ways... look into the heart of the matter... look at yourself... look at history... look what happened... look at what you missed…" Only then, and from there, we can start to build a foundation of leadership.

Sustainable leadership for the future is founded on engaging and using youth talent and innovation to solve local and global social, environmental and cultural challenges.