There are many ways to define leadership. It may be the capacity of a person to inspire people to move into action, or his or her ability to defy convention.

Through technology, the world has become more accessible and more connected than ever before. Nonetheless, the challenges that beset leaders—whether in an organization, community or country—remain as daunting. More so the temptation that comes with being in power.

Indeed, the graft and corruption issues that hog today’s headlines are disheartening, but our young Filipino leaders believe that all is not lost.

University of the Philippines (UP) Los Baños’ Racquel Abagat said that the time of “typical leaders” has come to pass—that now is an era of “global leaders.”

“Apart from having ambitious yet doable goals, a global leader is someone who is more sensitive to the plight of his constituents,” Abagat, a senior human ecology student, said.

Abagat was one of 80 delegates, students and young professionals from 13 countries, who participated in the recently concluded first Global Lead Summit (GLS) spearheaded by AIESEC in Padang, Indonesia.

AIESEC, or the International Association of Students in Economic and Commercial Sciences, is the largest student-run organization in the world, with over 100,000 members in 124 countries.

For Abagat, a global leader is one who “not only has the intellect, but is also imbued with the values of generosity, commitment, nationalism, and more importantly, is passionate for the attainment of the greater good.”

Inherent

Despite our shortcomings as a people, she added, the characteristics that make up a global leader are inherent in Filipinos.

In the three-day summit that saw young leaders from the world over discuss issues that hound not only their respective countries but also the global community, the Filipino delegation, composed of Abagat, UP Los Baños’ Erik Chua, De La Salle University’s Janika La Penia and Bicol University’s Jostin Jerico Rosal, proved to be a force to reckon with.

Despite the limited time given them to study the issue-based documents, each member of the Filipino delegation was able to deliver an excellent performance in the world leadership panel and gained positive comments—among them, the ability to think outside the box—from the conference speakers and facilitators. (They were each assigned to different groups.)

“I’m expecting, and I know, that the Filipino delegates will soon achieve what we and this conference are training them for—to be a global leader,” GLS conference committee head on international relations Gysha Nabila said.

‘Visionaries’

For his part, conference committee president Nikos Simanungkalit described the Filipino delegation as “visionaries” and hoped that their “passion for leadership wouldn’t end in the three-day summit.”

Though the summit may have lasted for only a few days, Rosal said that its impact on him will last for a lifetime. “It may had been a short period, but it was a wonderful experience to be exposed to the different cultures and ideologies,” the senior information technology student said.

He added that the lessons he got from the summit will help him initiate programs that are geared toward the betterment of his immediate community.

In fact, Rosal, who is also an advocate for the protection and preservation of the environment, is now in coordination with the local chapter of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) in Bicol University to create comprehensive and effective programs for the environment.

“There are many out there who spend endless hours, days even, talking about what the right thing to do is,” Chua, a senior developmental communication student, said. “But only those who are courageous enough—the global leaders—have what it takes to put their ideas into action.”

The author is a sophomore Journalism student at Bicol University and a delegate to the first Global Lead Summit in Padang, Indonesia.