Nurture Our Young Leaders
Anas Zubedy
Why must we nurture our young regardless of ethnicity, religion, locality or political leaning?
To survive into the future, organisations and society must manage the current pool of young talents. We need to identify these leaders and develop them into bridge builders connecting the old and the new, today with tomorrow.
When it comes to preparing our young, our criteria should not be race, religion, geography or political leaning. Beyond these, we need to critically identify those with capacity for growth, those with the ability to achieve results and make things happen; those who are able to deal with people from different backgrounds with diverse needs; and most importantly, the ones with integrity to do what is right.
While biases may exist for the older generations, we must be careful not to pass them on to the next generation. In business organisations, bosses must be careful not to create factions within the company. When people at the ground level are pitted against each other, it is hurtful to the organisation as a whole as members are forced to choose camps rather than make the company’s corporate vision a compass to meet collective goals.
In social organisations and the public sector, we need to nurture leaders from all ethnicities, religions and backgrounds. The domain of public service, especially our educational institutions, need to embody Malaysians of all races, religions, localities and political leanings without prejudice, because it must be representative of the true diversity of our society. These leaders will play a big role in nation building as we move forward.
It is the same with our political parties. Seniors in political organisations may have their own partisanships and prejudices, but unconstructive elements should not be allowed to trickle down to the young at the ground level. Young leaders should be provided passage to chart their own ways – without the boundaries of the past, without archaic issues of ethnic, religious, geographical or political division.
While we identify young talents and mentor them with the wisdom of our past and present, they should not inherit our problems into the future. Let us provide our young talents fresh passage to create new politics and new ways, to connect our past and present and build the bridges to a better future.
