I spent all day at work researching and preparing for the development and implementation of a corporate mentoring program. The purpose of this program is to provide an additional leadership development resource to the emerging leaders in our organization. It’s great stuff and so exciting to think about how we nurture talent.
Why then do I not spend the same amount of brainpower and time developing the emerging leader in my own home? My daughter is only five, but her budding leadership skills manifest themselves every day. Clearly, her teachers see it as evidenced by the assignment given to her. It was a sheet of paper with these four questions:

1.What is the mission and vision of our school?
2.Does your principal or teacher ever go over it with you?
3.If you had a magic wand, what would you change about your school?
4.If you could be principal for the day, what would you do differently?

What?!? These questions are so familiar because they are the same fundamental questions I ask our organization’s leaders every day to determine their engagement and dedication to our mission and to assess their strategic thinking, analytical, and creative thinking skills. I’m blown away that my daughter’s school is teaching her these skills in kindergarten, and I felt a bit of shame that I hadn’t thought of it first.

So how did she answer these?

1.My school teaches children lots of things, like reading, music, gym, and computers so we can learn to be better children, grown-ups, and parents.
2.My teacher doesn’t really talk about it, but she sends it home in my red homework folder every day.
3.I would make the outside of the school prettier. The inside has lots of colors, but the outside is all brown. I would buy a Christmas tree and decorate with lights. Then I’d buy lots of ribbon and just tie it around the whole school.
4.If I were the principal, I’d buy every child the 7 Habits for Happy Kids books so they would learn how to think differently. Then, I would give everyone a ring pop with ice cream on top for dessert. Oh, and I would ask the teachers to buy stuff to make clowns for arts and crafts.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard better answers than that, Lexi. You’re on the road to being a really great grown-up.