The Spirit of Leadership Challenge

For the Spirit of Leadership Challenge, we would like you to identify a leader within your country who you admire for their beliefs and actions in the face of global adversity (past or present), and tell their story.

You might be invited by your teacher to choose your own format in which to do this or they might give you a specific format in which to work (e.g. a written narrative, presentation, video, speech, storyboard etc.)

The basic steps in undertaking the challenge are:

Set your context: Identify one or more current/ historic/ global/ multi-national event/ issue that has impacted your country, or on which action is being taken in your country e,g, climate change, pollution, terrorism, access to education, world war, famine, global health crisis, inequality, global warming, poverty etc.

Carry out some online research into the key people involved in leading tackling the issue and/or creating and leading movements for change. Consider how beliefs and actions have influenced or led your nation’s response. Choose one person that you most admire from amongst those people you have identified through your research (they do not necessarily need to be from a formal position of leadership and can be from any relevant background or area of expertise). In identifying your leader, consider which of Round Square Spirit of Leadership Discoveries that person exhibited in their actions and their style of leadership.

Conduct further research into your chosen leader’s story online (and in books and other sources if you have access to them) and create a ‘Leadership Profile’ in note form to capture key facts and information in rough note form.

Produce your story presentation In your preferred format. Three questions to consider as part of your story presentation are:

• In what ways is/was your leader successful, courageous and/ or compassionate?
• Which of the 12 Discoveries do/did they exhibit and what might they not have done without them?
• What lesson will you take from their story in developing your own approach to leadership?

Things to think about

In thinking about your story presentation and carrying out your research you might also want to explore some of the following question prompts (and think of some more of your own):

• What challenges and obstacles did/does your chosen leader face?
• What qualities, skills and virtues did/does your chosen leader draw on to tackle those challenges?
• Did any of those qualities, skills or virtues give them the right character for the task?
• How did/does your chosen leader create vision and inspire others to believe in that vision?
• How did/do they communicate their vision? By what methods?
• In what ways did/ do they serve and empower others?
• How did/ do they inspire and motivate their followers?
• What part did/ do their followers play in their achievements?
• What lasting positive change has come about as a result of their actions?

You might be invited by your teacher to choose your own format in which to do this or they might give you a specific format in which to work (e.g. written narrative, presentation, tourism leaflet or illustrated journey). Please upload your final work after completing all six Challenges.