Leaders inspire others to do more. They carry their team to greater heights by influencing people to achieve more. Most leaders want to lead well, but only a few succeed.
Leadership, learning and development are indispensable to each other. The foundation of leadership is constant development through learning. A good leadership development program helps metamorphose leaders into great leaders and accelerates growth. It has the ability to transform an organization.
Great Leaders Build Great Organizations
Leadership is a personalized, ongoing and engaging approach. It is by no means a one-and-done process.
Good Leadership Development Programs like Harvard YLC uncover unique strengths and areas of improvement. The programs work on the needs and requirements to nurture young leaders. They serve as a great platform to connect the young leaders with engaging content that is personalized based on their unique needs. The programs create opportunities for leaders to practice their skills and work with their teams.
Leadership Development Programs will give you clarity on where the gaps are and where help is needed the most. They give you a measure of where you stand. An assessment of your current skill is an effective way of knowing where improvement and strengthening is needed. It gives you the clarity to know where to focus your time.
Access to resources is another attribute of a good leadership development program. It helps in rapid skill acquisition and a better level of absorption and retention.
Helping young leaders connect with experienced leaders is yet another trait of an effective leadership development program. The transfer of knowledge between a mentor and a mentee is a powerful method of augmenting and nurturing young leaders.
A Leadership Development Program helps you identify and improve your communication skills and empowers you to have the greatest impact.
Discover & Nurture the Leader in You
Leadership is a proven program that accelerates growth and transforms organizations. Harvard Youth Lead the Change is a leadership development program created by professors of the Harvard Business School, Harvard Law School, and the Harvard School of education, and held by Harvard students. Held for students in grades 8 – 12, the program aims at empowering students and unlocking their leadership capabilities as they develop tangible solutions to global problems.
A 7-day conference provides the students with an opportunity to work in a group to understand a global issue and develop a social change project to address it. Through this program, students learn about core leadership skills such as collaboration, public speaking, time management, and self-knowledge.
Presented by The Leadership Institute at Harvard College (LIHC), this Harvard student organization aims to provide and promote leadership development opportunities across the world.
As a first-time MUNer, there is a lot of uncertainty in one’s mind about where to start, how to progress, and, most importantly, how to come up with compelling arguments to win an award at a conference. The Big Red Group’s team has prepared the 7 steps you’ll need to start and flourish in your new career as a Diplomat, based on years of experience and study. Let’s take a look at each of these steps closely.
1. Begin with reading about your Country Profile
Before reading the conference’s Study Guide/Background Guide, it’s a good idea to study a little about the nation or designation, depending on your committee, you’ll be representing to overcome any inherent prejudices you might have. Remember to adopt an open mind when it comes to the country you’ll be representing. This will help you know facts, prepare arguments & also negotiate during the MUN sessions.
Things to research about your nation include:
Land – Use a map to locate your nation. Examine your size, terrain, and surroundings. Basically all of the demographics.
Politics – Determine whether you are a democracy, a pseudo-democracy, or a dictatorship. Check which party is in power in a democracy.
Data – population number, primary languages, demographic breakdown, and income, which is generally determined by examining the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
News – Stay updated with the national news in your country. Look for any recent changes in law, policies, etc.
When you read the Study Guide, this research will help you come up with useful suggestions.
2. Read the Study Guide
The Study Guide (also known as a Background Guide) is where you’ll find all of the essential details regarding the issue your MUN committee will be debating upon. When you’ve finished reading the instructions, you should have a good idea of the issue and what you’ll be discussing. Keep in mind that these guides are usually made by the chair and the vice-chair of your respective committees. Therefore, in case of any doubt or confusion prior to the conference, do not hesitate to reach out to them to clarify all possible doubts that you might have.
The Background Guide should provide you with background information about the subject. Ongoing concerns regarding the issue, statistics and facts that are relevant, the UN committee’s statements, positions in the block, questions to ponder as well as additional reading material. Additionally, they are also useful since they show you in what direction the chairs want the argument to proceed.
3. Learn more about your committee
As you must know, the UN has several committees like UNHRC, General assembly, etc. Your Background Guide should include all essential information about your committee. In case it does give you the full overview, a short look at the Wikipedia page should help you understand it better. Your aim is to understand the committee’s objectives, any ongoing activity, it’s previous actions (especially regarding the current agenda). Furthermore, learning what your MUN committee’s mandate is will assist you in comprehending everything it can and cannot do. This will come in handy when it’s time to write down concrete solutions.
4. Understand your country’s position
To succeed in your committee, you need to read as many news articles to obtain an understanding of what policies your nation might pursue in order to grasp its stance.
If you’re representing Japan, for example, you might want to examine things like – Has Japan ever dispatched relief workers in the event of a natural disaster? Is Japan a participant in global anti-virus efforts? Even if there is nothing specifically mentioned about your country’s link to the subject you will be debating, the answers to those questions will help you understand where your country’s diplomatic position is on the ongoing agenda.
If you still can’t seem to find anything about your country or position, search the same for your surrounding countries or countries that are similar to you. Take a look at how they handle the situation. If your country appears to be irrelevant to the issue being addressed, you may only get a well-informed guess of how it might work in case it was more involved in the issue at hand. Fortunately, even when there is little information, it is frequently sufficient.
5. Work on your Opening speech
Each delegate at an MUN is required to give an Opening Speech. If there are no opening addresses at a conference, the first speech you give will serve a comparable purpose.
Typically, the introductory address lasts 60 to 120 seconds
This speech should include an overview of your country’s perspective on the matter as well as solutions to the issues your committee is debating. Details and concrete policies to remedy the situation should be included in your speech. Lastly, your answers should be in the best interests of your country.
6. Go over the Rules of procedure again
It is critical that you have a basic understanding of the Rules of Procedure before attending your first MUN. Practicing is the greatest way to learn ROPs. While mastering the ROP is not required, it is beneficial to have a rudimentary understanding of delegate workflow and how to pass a motion. You’d be able to get your hands on these very easily on several websites on the internet. Fortunately, they are sometimes also mentioned in the background guide as well as repeated by every chair at the beginning of the conference.
7. Learn to draft a resolution
A Resolution Document is a collection of your block’s relevant policy proposals. Preambulatory Clauses and Operative Clauses are the most common types. To be deemed a genuine Draft Resolution, the Resolution must be prepared in a specified fashion. This structure can be found easily on several different websites including The Best Delegate Website.
Although, undoubtedly, MUNs are a lot of fun, coming prepared increases your chances of having a good time at the conference. This is because you’ll know where things are headed and how to get to your intended goal . You just need to show up and make the most of your first MUN conference. Also, don’t forget to take advantage of the sites, social media, and the easiest opportunity to establish friendships with hundreds of people who are just like you.
However, with every new generation, we see new patterns and skills being showcased at these MUNs. In case you did have the opportunity of attending a conference before coming across this guide, do you feel like you’ve learned and experienced something new?
Imagine creating a payment system as a joke and ending up with a market cap of US$29 billion! Yes, that’s exactly what happened with software engineers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer after they launched Dogecoin in 2013. It wasn’t until 2021 when Elon Musk vocalized his support towards Dogecoin, that the currency shot up by more than 20,000% in just one year!
If you’ve been seeing a lot of speculation around this but are not sure as to how cryptocurrency works – today’s your day. You will get to know the story behind cryptocurrency and what it means for you.
It is often said that you’re never too young to start saving money. One can start saving after settling down with the family, like your grandfather. Or, one can start saving after launching their first business, like your father. But someone like you can start saving right away – while still in high school.
While the ultimate motto behind saving money has remained the same, the resources from where we get this income and the form in which it has been stored have drastically changed over the past few decades. Cash is no longer the king. With the storming digital revolution, the need and the spread of digital money have seen remarkable growth. So, what is digital currency?
After the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the world has been more rapidly choosing digital money and going cashless. Digital money has brought immense ease of access, but at the cost of cybercrimes. With the world opting for digital transactions, every single day, security has become a major concern. And that’s where blockchain technology and cryptocurrency come into the picture.
What is Cryptocurrency and Why Was It Created?
Just like the dollar, euro, pound, or rupee, cryptocurrency is a digital coin that is used as money in the online medium. This is not physical money that you can pull out of your pocket or fiat currency that the banks can store on their premises. So, where do cryptocurrency, and the transactions made using it, reside? The answer to that is blockchain. Now, what is a blockchain? In simple words, a blockchain network is a ledger or a collection of all digital transactions that take place.
To summarize, you need to observe that physical money is being replaced by digital currency here. Also, all transactions are being done on the backbone of blockchain, which is a decentralized technology. Everyone can access it. No single entity has full control over cryptocurrency which makes it decentralized and hence immune against cyberattacks and sloppy, corrupt transactions. That explains why cryptocurrency was created in the first place.
Types of Cryptocurrencies
Broadly, there are two categories that cryptocurrencies can be divided into – coins and tokens. The major difference between these is that coins have their own blockchain network whereas tokens make use of the existing blockchain.
Bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency, released in 2009, and Satoshi Nakamoto was the developer who created and developed Bitcoin. With the rising demand and growing popularity of Bitcoins, people have created plenty of cryptocurrencies in this digital world. Did you know that there are more than 6,500 cryptocurrencies? This includes Ethereum, Ripple, Polkadot, Stellar, Bitcoin Cash, Chainlink, and yes, the reputed Dogecoin as well. Coins other than Bitcoin are also known as Altcoins.
How Will Crypto Wallets Replace Piggy Banks?
Cryptocurrencies follow a decentralized system, and not a centralized system used in banks and electronic money. Unlike the traditional currencies used in the world, cryptocurrencies aren’t owned by a single country or a person. This transparent technology allows to have more secured transactions and there are not any taxes or transaction charges involved while doing so. You can simply keep your money safe in these crypto wallets, and make use of it whenever required. Although, you cannot make use of cryptocurrency for daily transactions yet, the future surely would have a different story.
Cryptocurrency and Teenagers
Neither the top investors nor anybody else, it’s YOUR pocket money that is growing India’s crypto investments! Yes! The past year has witnessed a huge surge in crypto investments, a huge chunk coming from teenagers. In fact, a survey found that 45% of teens believe they know about cryptocurrency more than their parents. Undoubtedly, the dynamic nature of cryptocurrency makes it a perfect fit for inquisitive young minds.
Not only are teenagers researching and investing in cryptocurrency, but they are also mining their own digital tokens! What is crypto mining? Well, it involves a piece of sophisticated hardware that solves a complex computational problem. In simple words, you can consider crypto mining as a way of creating new coins, as these Texas siblings are doing. Remember we talked about blockchain being a ledger for crypto transactions? A verified crypto miner validates crypto transactions and adds them to the blockchain ledger, thereby earning money from the same.
While Indian crypto exchanges do not allow individuals below the age of 18 to invest yet, won’t it be cool if you could amplify your parents’ or your elder siblings’ investments?
Cryptocurrency is the Future
A decade ago, the concept of flipping your phone, scanning a QR code, and making payments on the go was a fancy dream. Today, it’s an inevitable reality. Innovation often finds itself in the hands of unpredictability.
Believe it or not, cryptocurrencies are here to transform our world and you will soon find yourself in a world that literally runs on them. While there’s still a lot of speculation around the stability of cryptocurrency, the best idea is to start learning about it, before it’s too late. You don’t want to be late to the smart investors’ bandwagon, do you?
Conclusion
The nature of cryptocurrency is volatile but highly rewarding. An investment that yields huge returns is a product of smart decisions and fundamental knowledge. Get your basics right with the Smart Money Camp – a student financial literacy course – and be ready to conquer the world of cryptocurrency. The sooner you start, the greater the edge you have.
The future of your money is in your hands, are you ready to learn?
It is said that great leaders are born and not made. While the truth of this adage is certainly debatable, it is definitely true that leadership skills can be identified, inculcated and nurtured.
Leaders have the potential to influence great changes. What a leader says or does has a great impact. Good leaders always respect themselves and others. A great leader always chooses the harder right rather than an easier wrong. They take responsibility for their actions.
Though each leader is unique, successful leaders share a few common traits. These traits can be identified, developed and nurtured to create great leaders.
Initiators.
Great leaders are excellent initiators. They always strive to help others in any way they can. They proactively look for opportunities, volunteer for responsibilities and are a part of the solution.
Demonstrate a desire to do more than what your role includes. Be ready to assist in other domains. Identify issues and try to develop potential solutions.
Critical thinkers.
Failures are inevitable. But the ability to think rationally, critically and avoid failures or rise from a setback is what sets great leaders apart. Leaders understand failures may happen, but they do not dwell on the mistakes.
Use failure as a learning opportunity and a way to improve your skills. Learn to think critically and use failure as a motivation to succeed.
Listen. Listen. Listen.
The biggest problem is that people do not listen to understand – they listen to reply. Leaders listen more than they need to speak. This allows them to gain a better insight into the situation and determine if they need more data before making a decision.
The word ‘Listen‘ contains the same letters as the word ‘Silent.’
Motivate.
Successful people build each other up. Encouraging others to succeed is a trait of a good leader. Good leaders give credit where it’s due and avoid taking credit for others’ work.
Good leaders help others feel confident about themselves. Learn to enjoy seeing others succeed. Be a part of a process. Success is all about what you inspire others to do.
Stay Disciplined.
Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment. Leaders have to remain focused. They have to be able to work in all types of conditions without getting distracted. With self-discipline, anything can be conquered.
Discipline is the key to success. Motivation gets you going, but it is the discipline that keeps you growing.
Keep Learning.
Learning is a continuous journey. Leaders welcome the chance to learn new skills or ideas. They are constantly on the path of updating and upgrading themselves.
Be willing to learn new things. Learn continually – there’s always one more thing to learn.
Delegate.
Delegating tasks is a vital part of being a leader. Finding the perfect person for the job is a skill that good leaders excel at. Leaders avoid trying to complete every task themselves. They ensure the perfect completion of the job.
If you are good at something, do it. If you are not good at something, find someone who is good at it and get the job done.
Conflict Resolvers.
Leaders work well with others. They have strong interpersonal skills. They effectively sniff out conflicts and snuff them out immediately. A good leader identifies discordant notes and ensures a harmonious working environment.
Play fair, but play tough. Learn to work with others.
Nurture your leadership skills
Leadership development programs help in nurturing and developing leadership skills. They help you develop your strengths and work on your weaknesses. There are various leadership development programs in India that are great places to indulge with qualified professionals. They empower you to reach your full potential.
Lead the change with Harvard YLC Leadership Conference
Youth Lead the Change is a leadership development program created by professors of the Harvard Business School, Harvard Law School, and the Harvard School of education, and held by Harvard students. Held for students in grades 8 – 12, the program aims at empowering students and unlocking their leadership capabilities as they develop tangible solutions to global problems. Over the 7 day course, the students work in a group to understand a global issue and develop a social change project to address it. Through this program, students learn about core leadership skills such as collaboration, public speaking, time management, and self-knowledge.
The Harvard trainers also hold one-on-one sessions with students who continue to serve as mentors after the program. On finishing the program, there is an opportunity to complete mentorship for an entire year, to implement their project. Presented by The Leadership Institute at Harvard College (LIHC), this Harvard student organization aims to provide and promote leadership development opportunities across the world.
When the pandemic struck, all of us were forced to retreat to the comfort of our homes. We spent a year being careful and social distancing. And now, with the new strain of the COVID-19 virus that has erupted in India, we might have to pass another year or so keeping safe in our homes.
Boredom has grown quite prevalent in this era, especially in the case of teens and kids. We can’t meet our friends, go to the mall or even the park. So, in this time of utter disarray, here’s what students can do in the lockdowns:
Courses/Workshops
Courses are an extracurricular activity that help you keep boredom at bay. Choosing to learn more about a subject you’re interested in only furthers you on the path to success. You can broaden your horizons and have fun at the same time, what’s not to like? Webinars and sessions such as these allow you to learn new skills and ways of thinking, while giving you feedback on your previous shortcomings so you can improve. These courses and workshops let you engage with new people who most probably share similar interests. This way, you can make new friends and further your social skills, too. Plus, furthering your extracurriculars like this shows colleges that you’re actually interested in a subject and are serious about it.
Sparkling up your resume like this is definitely an advantage and could land you in the university of your dreams. One other possible benefit of courses is that they can help you realise whether you truly want to pursue a field of study. Knowing what your passion is is a big part of life, and these realisations could possibly help save you money and time. So, taking part in courses and workshops doesn’t only keep you busy but it also offers you multiple other benefits that are too attractive to ignore!
Internships
Internships for high school students can be considered similar to courses in terms of their benefits, but are different in their own way. An internship is an official programme that is offered by an employer. Internships let high-schoolers and college-students gain valuable work experience that would be otherwise hard to acquire at such an early age. Interns have the opportunity to apply acquired knowledge to day-to-day work experiences, first-hand, fully preparing them to enter the workforce post graduation.
Further through internships, you can explore a career path, and gain confidence in your chosen field of study. They allow you to decide whether the field is right for you and make mistakes in a safe environment, where they are expected. By developing and refining new skills that you gain during the internships, you can give yourself an edge in college applications and in the job market. Even virtually taking part in such experiences, you can learn countless things both from your superiors and your mistakes. Internships provide you with the opportunity to learn from the people around you, ask questions and impress. They are surely a great way to have fun and take advantage of the free time you have available as they will greatly aid you in the future, too.
Hobbies
Finding ways to pass your boredom need not only include extra-curricular activities. Hobbies are a way for you to creatively express what you’re feeling and enjoy your time. They allow you to take a break and carve out time to devote to what you want. Losing yourself in a good book, or immersing yourself in an artwork can keep you productive and instil you with a sense of purpose while having fun. Hobbies benefit you mentally by decluttering your mind and letting you be in the moment. They take you away from stressful thoughts and situations, and their productive nature keeps feelings of guilt at bay. They help you practice mindfulness techniques without even realising it and are a great way of keeping yourself occupied. Physical hobbies such as badminton, yoga, dancing or other sports keep you in shape and provide countless health benefits. These activities keep us active and result in increased confidence and energy levels. Lastly, hobbies can open up your world by stretching the limits of your imagination. They satisfy a curious mind and help you learn new ways to improve. They are one of the best ways to show your passion and leadership in your professional life, and hence are a very advantageous way to chill out.
Social Work
Social work is a way to not only benefit yourself, but also others. Spending even an hour a day focusing on how you give back could possibly change someone’s life. It helps you increase your emotional intelligence by exercising empathy and the practice of giving. You can build unforgettable relationships and learn essential people skills. So how exactly do we engage with it? Well, you can opt to lead a social project . This can provide you with new skills such as long-term commitment and the ability to think on the spot. Even if you only participate in one, it can be highly beneficial as you learn to overcome obstacles and work in a team. Further, doing social work enhances self-esteem as giving back and driving change can make you feel good about yourself. It gives one a sense of accomplishment and is extremely rewarding. Educating yourself in these skills at an early age cements them forever. Occupying yourself by doing social work like this helps everyone learn effectively and is an unparalleled way of passing your boredom.
There are so many things and so many ways to do them, and we’ve only listed a few. Going out there and simply looking for experiences such as the aforementioned is an important way of keeping yourself constructively busy. Co-curricular activities help in the holistic development of students and assist in developing critical skills and abilities to be successful and happy in the 21st century life and workplaces. Plus, you can have so much fun while doing them. Now, it’s your choice whether you want to succumb to boredom or try to be a busy bee.!
