The Leadership Lab

Have you ever talked yourself out of something because you did not feel ready yet? You are not alone. Right now in Britain, nearly a million young people cannot find work or training. The doors they were promised are simply not opening. But a handful of them found a different way in, and it starts with a folding table in a market square. One of them is 19. He was so nervous during his first sales he could barely get the words out. What happened next is the part I want you to see, because it has nothing to do with luck and everything to do with a choice you could make this week. Read the full story →

Nobody Handed Them a Job. So They Set Up a Stall. He Was 19 and Scared to Talk to Strangers

Would you bet a full year of your life on something you built? Not your money. Not a weekend. A year. Sleeping in it. Every season. An 18-year-old engineering student in Ontario just made that exact bet. He designed something he believes could change how his city handles one of its hardest problems, and instead of pitching it from a safe distance, he moved in. His classmates are settling into dorm rooms. He's somewhere very different, and he chose it on purpose. What he built, why he refused to make it ordinary, and what happened the last time he ignored how things are "supposed" to be done, that part you have to see for yourself.

Read the full story →

He Built It in a Day. Now He Has to Live in It. The 18-Year-Old Who Moved Into His Own Idea

What would you do if someone handed you $28,000 and told you the decision was entirely yours? No adults stepping in. No do-overs. Just you, a stack of applications, and seven organizations waiting on your answer.

That exact scenario played out in the Quad Cities this spring, when high school students from different schools sat down at one table with real money and a real job to do.

What they did before making a single decision is the part most adults in charge of budgets never do. And one graduating senior walked away saying it changed what he believes about himself.

Read the full story →

What Happens When You Hand Teenagers $28,000 The Decision Most Adults With Budgets Never Make

You walk past the same faces every day. Maybe outside a store, maybe at a corner you've driven by a hundred times. You feel something for a second — and then you keep moving.

Most people do.

A high school student didn't. They looked at the same situation and asked a completely different question — not "isn't someone going to fix this?" but "what if I'm the one who builds the thing that actually helps?"

What they built next will make you rethink what you're actually capable of — no matter how old you are or what you think your job is.

Read the full story → https://mrkstheleadershiplab.substack.com/p/the-app-that-started-because-one

92% of companies are increasing their AI investment right now.

McKinsey says the potential value is $4.4 trillion.

And yet most of them can't figure out why their teams are still disengaged.

Here's the part nobody wants to say out loud: the technology isn't the problem.

Nearly 1 in 5 employees describe their work experience as "neutral." Not satisfied. Not engaged. Neutral.

You can add a dozen AI tools to a neutral workforce and all you've done is make mediocrity faster.

The real leadership challenge of 2026 isn't AI. It's trust.

Full article 👇
https://mrkstheleadershiplab.substack.com/p/you-cant-buy-trust-with-an-ai-budget

What if your school gave a 9-year-old an actual leadership title — and meant it?

That's exactly what happened in the UK. Jess is a pupil voice lead. She runs student meetings. She brings real concerns to the head teacher. She isn't pretending to lead. She is leading.

The lesson isn't just for schools. It's for anyone who works with young people: stop waiting for them to "be ready." Give them real responsibility, real support, and watch what happens.

Leadership isn't taught in a lecture. It's learned by doing.

Read the full story → https://open.substack.com/pub/mrkstheleadershiplab/p/she-has-a-job-title-shes-nine-years

Ever been in a situation where you saw something wrong, and you had to decide in about three seconds whether to stop or keep going?

Let me tell you about four teenagers dressed up for junior prom who spotted an orange glow down the road in Marcy, New York. They almost kept driving. Then one of them said something, and everything changed.

Nobody told them what to do. Nobody assigned them roles. They just... knew. And a family of three made it safely across the street because these four kids chose to turn around.

This is the kind of leadership that doesn't show up on a resume. The kind you either have or you don't. Or the kind you build before you ever need it.

Read the full story → https://buff.ly/W3xJeD2

They Got Out of the Car The Leadership Lesson from Prom Night in Marcy, NY

Have you ever watched someone younger than you do something you're not sure you could pull off?

I want to tell you about Brooke Adams. She's 15. Her dad is a Senior Master Sergeant deployed overseas and couldn't make it to his own community's Memorial Day ceremony. So Brooke walked up to the microphone and spoke in his place.

In front of veterans. In front of neighbors. In front of people who knew exactly what that day costs some families.

She didn't have to do it. She just decided to.

There's a difference between being brave and being willing — and Brooke showed it in a way I keep coming back to.

Read the full story → https://buff.ly/Ylyp4OU

She Could Have Said No What a 15-Year-Old's Memorial Day Speech Teaches Us About Showing Up

Have you ever watched something you love get threatened and felt like there was nothing you could do about it?
A class of fourth graders in Danville, California knows that feeling.
For almost a year, they watched two bald eagles raise their chicks on a livestream running in their classroom. Jackie and Shadow stopped being a science lesson and became part of the class.
Then their teacher found out the eagles' hunting ground was about to be sold off, unless someone could come up with ten million dollars.
The kids are nine. No money. No power.
So they asked their teacher one short question. And then they did something almost nobody expects from a fourth grader.
Read the full story → https://buff.ly/TeyzZe7

Anyone Can Care. These Nine-Year-Olds Did Something About It. The Eagles, the Lemonade Stand, and the Question That Started It All