| The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship among the environmental factors of mentoring, parental involvement, education experiences and opportunities for growth experiences in youth and young adults and successful leaders. By determining the environmental factors, programs could be made available that will support potential leaders early in their development. Data was collected from a 7-question survey that was sent to Leadership Louisville Foundation members in Louisville, Kentucky. The members of this group were selected for their leadership ability in community and volunteer activities. 86% of the respondents to the survey held the positions of CEO, President, Vice President, Director or Manager. The respondents were asked to answer questions concerning leadership activities, mentoring, their first leadership role, mentoring and parental involvement in elementary, junior/senior high school and college. They were asked to rank the importance of the environmental factors of education experience, mentoring, parental involvement, leadership activities, extra curricular activities and self-motivation in their leadership development. The findings of the survey indicated that self-motivation and parental involvement were the most important factors in leadership development in elementary and junior/senior high school. Education experiences and mentoring were supplements when parental involvement and mentoring was not present. Bases on these findings, recommendations included successful parenting skills be presented to parents as their children enter kindergarten and follow up programs take place annually. Programs to develop mentors who were mainly teachers and coaches on how to assess and development leadership talent were recommended. Leadership activities to development children in elementary school where their first leadership role took place were recommended. Further research was recommended in what role self motivation plays in leadership development. Also, further research was recommended to define the differences and similarities of mentoring and parental involvement and the elements of successful parental involvement. |
