Why I don’t want to apply for Global Shapers Melbourne

I saw a post this evening on Facebook by Larissa Brown who’s setting up the Melbourne Hub of the Global Shapers Community.

In the words of the website (caps is theirs):

THE GLOBAL SHAPERS COMMUNITY IS A NETWORK OF HUBS DEVELOPED AND LED BY YOUNG PEOPLE WHO ARE EXCEPTIONAL IN THEIR POTENTIAL, THEIR ACHIEVEMENTS AND THEIR DRIVE TO MAKE A CONTRIBUTION TO THEIR COMMUNITIES.

Thinking that this would be a neat program to be a part of, I began the job of putting together an application. It should have been pretty straight forward. They just want a CV and a 200 word answer to the question; “Why I would like to be a Global Shaper?”.

But that’s where I hit a snag. As I began to ask myself why I wanted to do the program, I realised that the only real reason I would have would be as a badge to put on my CV. I’m not saying I wouldn’t meet a bunch of amazing people and learn a lot. But I’m a bit tired of the concept of youth ‘leadership’. Leadership is developed over time. And the best leaders I know of don’t do programs to develop this, they focus on something they’re passionate about and spend every waking minute working on this. I also scanned some of the “Projects” listed on the Global Shapers website and wasn’t particularly impressed. Not to take anything away from those who worked hard on them. But I have an inherent dislike of ‘projects’. I think there is too much emphasis on ‘projects’ in the world of NGOs and the problem with projects is that ultimately they end. More people should be aiming to either launch their idea within an existing organisation or form an organisation that can perpetuate the cause their ‘project’ seeks to alleviate.

I’m not writing this to deride the program or anybody who participates in it. I’m sure they’ll get a lot out of it and I’m sure if I did it I’d get a lot out of it too. But it would also take up time I could be spending working on amazing things at the Australian Conservation Foundation, Economists at Large & COHESION GYM.

 

P.S. Why has ‘hub’ become such a buzz word these days? Especially in the sustainable & startup world.

P.P.S. I may still put an application in. I do love meeting interesting people after all. 🙂