Is the world changing for better or worse?

We posed this question to both young and established leaders at the Good Leadership Breakfast last Thursday: Is the world changing for better or worse?  The response to this simple question was staggering, and the overall judgment? We aren’t sure.

Nearly 200 people participating in-person and virtually responded: 52% think the world is changing for the better, and 48% believe the world is changing for the worse.

Age bias

So what can we draw from this? Of those who identified themselves as established leaders, the majority believe the world is changing for the better. Is that because they know something that young leaders don’t? Or do they simply have more life experiences to draw from?  My gut says the experienced leaders have a higher acceptance of the discomfort as a society require for things to actually get better.

With so many young leaders seeing how the world is changing for the worse, there’s never been a more important time for mentoring on good leadership, and how goodness pays. It starts with finding positive answers to the question: Where do we see the goodness in all this?

If we’re going to help young leaders carve a better path forward for our young leaders, we need to help them find their courage and convictions in difficult times like today.  My friend, Kevin Warren of the Big Ten Athletic Conference spoke on this very subject at the breakfast. You can watch his inspiring remarks, and the full breakfast program here:  Good Leadership Young Leaders Breakfast, 2020.

So I will leave you with one final thought:

After accepting the encouragement of sponsors, clients, friends, and Kevin Warren to cut through the pandemic confusion and produce a virtual breakfast event, I am more convinced than ever our world is changing for the better. These are exciting times! Never before have so many people around the globe been working together, trying to solve a life-threatening problem. I’m convinced that we will figure out how to live in a virus era. And never before have so many people been working together to eliminate systemic racism in America. What was previously undiscussable, is now freely discussable. Things are getting better every day.

For the good of our young leaders, please share with me: What are you doing today to help the world change for the better? 

And a special thanks for Masters Alliance and TCF Bank for their encouragement and generous support to make this young leaders event possible.