True Leadership Skills For Next Generations

All of us have leadership potential, age is only a number. In fact, leadership skills can be learned at a very young age; everyone can teach someone something. Teaching children and adults self-leadership skills can help them develop a sense of who they are, discover what they are capable of and find out their life purpose.

Richard Ong, an entrepreneur and author of 5 books said, “True leadership starts with self-leadership because leadership begins first on the inside. The best leaders are the best learners.” His latest book, Mindsets, talks about the power of right thinking.

“When it comes to mindsets, I only preach two things, which is to create values to others and build a meaningful relationship with them. The role that your mindset plays is a direct reflection of your leadership quality. It’s hard for a person with a fixed mindset to see things from multiple perspectives.” He added.

Ong believes leadership and authority are not the same things. Unfortunately, to most people, the only leaders they know are authority figures, someone who sets rules and gives orders. A leader who relies only on power and authority will have a hard time seeing values in other people.

Being a passionate writer himself, Ong teamed up with his friend, Philomena Chan, and they created a website that promotes creative writing, petalz.org

Chan called herself a student of life. She enjoys exploring the world of entrepreneurship, communications and art. Both Ong and Chan believe creative writing can help youth become better leaders and boost leadership skills.

“Writing is a form of communication, and the messages behind those stories can create a lasting change to someone’s life. For centuries, humans have been teaching each other through stories. Sharing stories helps us see the world from different perspectives. A good leader listens to the perspectives of others. He or she understands that there are hidden values in different opinions which may lead to new solutions.” Explained Ong.

After many years of climbing the corporate ladder at multi-national companies, Ong and Chan left the corporate world to follow their life calling. Despite the lucrative income, they realized the ladder of “success” was not leaning against the right wall. If they kept doing the same thing, each step they took would get them further and further away from what they truly wanted in life.

Today, Ong facilitates design thinking workshops using entrepreneurship skills as an educational tool to support youth and adult leadership training.

When asked how to become a successful writer? Ong said, “Encouragement helps. I have been in love with writing ever since I was a kid. The greatest joy for me is to have my words expressed in a series of chapters so that others can enjoy reading or get inspired by the stories. My sister was my best advocate, she helped me find my own voice.”

In 2017, Ong had a chance to meet one of the most famous leaders at a local conference in Malaysia, Prince Charles. They had a short discussion about sustainable technology. “It was interesting to know that Prince Charles prefers to use a pen and a paper to document his thoughts instead of using writing apps from a phone.” Said Ong.

Ong stressed that in order to be a successful leader, one must know how to lead himself first before leading others.


Written for Dreamic educational magazine.