Erika Andersen wrote in her book Leading So People Will Follow, that there are six key attributes of leadership that need to be practiced and developed to become good leaders. These characteristics can inspire loyalty and commitment.  Adults can use them to offer young children an action plan to improve, and practical guidelines for building essential behaviors.  When adults support and provide models for helping children build leadership skills it aids them to survive and thrive in the future.

Infants: Passion & Trustworthiness – Very young children are passionate about what they want and are relentless about trying to get what they want.  They need to be reassured that adults will support them, and are committed to their needs.  A good new infant board book on passion is Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andreae

Infants need to be able to trust the genuineness of what they are being told and feel secure in their surroundings.  Infants who grow up with that genuine sense of trust are then much more able to trust others.  A wonderful older book about trust is Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney.

Toddlers: Courage & Generosity – Sometimes adults feel that toddlers may have too much courage because they charge forward without always thinking of the consequences of their actions, but it is important that adult not say “no” too often to those courageous feelings.  From courage comes a blend of toughness, decisiveness, willingness to move past limitations, humility, and resilience.  An interesting book on courage is Daddy Sat On A Duck by Scott M. Cohn

Toddlers also have to be taught to share but once they have gotten that skill perfected they can be often very generous, and not only with things but most importantly with feelings such as caring for others when they fall and get hurt.  They can also be generous by allowing others to join in their play and developing friendships. An amusing book about the generosity of feelings is I Still Love You Booboohead by Angie Long

Preschoolers: Farsightedness & Wisdom – One way adults can help children see a future is to help them see how to get around the obstacles that are in their way.  This can be done by encouraging them to articulate their visions and by setting reasonable goals.  Useful activities preschoolers can do are role playing how to overcome obstacles safely; this will help them to build confidence in the process.  A witty book about a frog wanting to change his future is I Don’t Want To Be A Frog by Dev Petty and Mike Boldt. 

Wisdom requires thought, curiosity, and intuition.  Preschoolers have wisdom far beyond their years.  They have an abundance of curiosity, and they have the capacity to learn from their experiences.  Erika Andersen stated in her book that “I see curiosity as the impulse to investigate.  For children, that impulse is a powerful, instinctive survival mechanism: the more they understand the environment and the more quickly they do so the more likely they are to succeed as human beings.”  A clever book that preschoolers can relate to is Stick and Stone by Beth Ferry and Tom Lichtenheld.

Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself.  When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.
(Jack Welch)