This summer, my Leadership-in-Action project culminated in 25 minutes on a big screen in Doha: moderating a panel discussion over Zoom, quite literally merely providing a background for my guest speakers. I was glad, however, to have been able to shine the spotlight on a topic close to my heart at this year’s Qatar Youth Power Conference; and I hope it sets the stage for more conversations about the unique journeys of young people growing into leaders.

Qatar Youth Power Conference 2023.

This conference was founded by a fellow Laidlaw scholar, Natalie Magness, and we agreed that I would take a 25-minute segment to cover any topic of my choice. I felt that QYP’s work would be enhanced by taking on elements of the Laidlaw programme. One was empowerment and leadership development by peer example; the other was the facilitating more discussion amongst youth leaders. It was critical to bring the voices of more young people to the table, and I felt it would be an advantage for them to share a common cultural context in being from Qatar, which would underpin the discussion.

I wanted to speak in particular about the “youth” aspect of youth leadership. It was important to acknowledge that leadership forms part of a young person’s holistic identity, that their leadership journey needs to be cultivated in tandem with plans for their career, academics, and other pursuits, and that, at times, it might be unclear how these choices can come together into a single vision. These were questions that would carry weight in the eyes of young leaders because of the vast range of options open to them at the start of building their futures. And I wanted these questions to be answered by people who had also grappled with them, for an honest and open reflection on what leadership means to young people.

I called my panel discussion the Youth Leaders Panel: named (perhaps rather obviously) for the multitude of ways in which it centred around the challenges and stories of young leaders.

I met my speakers, Bayyo and Hana, over Zoom and took some time to talk to them about their leadership stories. I knew then they were the right choice for my session. Both had a strong drive to raise awareness about issues important to them, Bayyo through facilitating debate and discussion, Hana through advocacy. When asked how they began developing themselves as leaders, the answer was unanimous: they had taken whatever opportunities were available to them and built upon their exposure and learning to further the pursuit of their passions. They also spoke about how their areas of interest were still evolving with experience, something I felt would resonate with their peers.

Introducing Bayyo & Hana.

At the same time, I was covering work from various divisions within QYP. This was a lesson in adaptability: as an associate member, I assisted whichever division needed additional support, which meant I was constantly switching between different tasks. I contacted sponsors and partners, speakers, attendees; helped with QYP’s recruitment drive; and even designed the conference’s official poster. It was a reminder that leaders sometimes step back and take a supporting role, and I learned to be proactive in clarifying instructions and suggesting how things could be improved.

My biggest challenge was conference registration, which I handled largely on my own. It required multiple rounds of form-filling, after which I released invitations in batches to keep within the attendance limit. The sheer volume of communication and administrative work was overwhelming, especially because I was working across multiple time zones. Finally I asked another team member, Tony, to take over part of the work, to keep the process efficient and bring in a second pair of eyes that could cover any blind spots.

On the day of the conference I moderated over Zoom. Bayyo and Hana talked about their leadership journeys, and then took questions from each other and the audience. Although I would have, ideally, liked the session to be longer, I was heartened to see that attendees were interested in hearing the speakers’ thoughts on different aspects of leadership, including “Are leaders born, or can you grow to be one?” and “How did you become more open to new things?” — questions that I would have loved to delve into more.

Hana sharing her thoughts.

Was the Youth Leaders Panel a success? (If it is anything to go by, Hazel and Paula from the audience kindly took the time to sketch me.) It is difficult to say, and probably remains to be seen, how much attendees took away from the session and the conference as a whole. I would also have been happy to hear from my speakers about more than leadership, to focus more on specific areas they are pursuing, and to talk about leadership in different cultures and contexts. But I am grateful to have had the opportunity to share my conviction that youth leadership is important; that it should be about young people; and that we need to provide more platforms for conversations like this. And I hope that young leaders at this year’s conference went away with the belief that they can and should have the chance like mine, and Bayyo’s and Hana’s, to have a voice. There are people who would like to hear what they have to say.

Thank you Hazel & Paula!

PS. The conference livestream can be found on YouTube.