Tuesday November 17, 2009
‘Become the leader yourself’
By NIKI CHEONG and SHARMILA NAIR
PUTRAJAYA: If leaders do not respond to your ideas of change, then you must become the leader yourself.
These were the wise words of LiveAid and Live8 founder Bob Geldof, who blew the crowd away at the inaugural Youth Engagement Summit (YES 2009) in Putrajaya International Convention Centre here yesterday.
In his talk, Geldof encouraged youths to commit themselves and move towards the change they strongly believed in, even if it meant “taking matters into their own hands.”
Meeting of young minds: Twitter co-founder Biz Stone, or @biz, in his element as he addresses some 1,000 young leaders at the Youth Engagement Summit (YES2009) in Putrajaya Monday. More than 10 global change icons, including Live Aid founder Bob Geldof (bottom left) and former World Bank managing director Dr Mamphela Ramphela spoke on the opening day of the two-day summit. — Bernama “Change can be good or bad, but it is only good when it meets the need and is balanced by the requirements of society,” he said in a friendly advice to the 1,000 youth leaders present.
The event brought together youth representatives from all over South East Asia with some of the most motivational global change icons including Twitter co-founder Biz Stone and chess legend Garry Kasparov.
“You are representatives of very intelligent people of your countries. You may be going to universities or colleges and that is your capability, your talent. But who you are is very different indeed,” said Geldof.
When you marry what you are capable of doing with who you are, change begins, he opined.
Geldof urged the youngsters to return to their homes and do what they could to benefit their societies.
“You must remember to discuss your ideas of change with your leaders. If they don’t respond, you must become the leader yourself,’’ he stressed.
Biz Stone said Twitter was not just for people who had a lot of time on their hands.
“It can be a powerful tool for social responsibility,” he added.
One of his company’s main priorities in developing the brand was to associate it with social innovation, he told the young leaders.
“We didn’t want to only do it when we become successful, but we wanted the culture to grow with us,” he said.
Stone also spoke about Twitter habits, rating Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak “a 10.”
“If he’s already on Twitter, I’d rank him a 10,” he said, adding that different people may choose to use the social media tool differently, and advised them not to just wait to Tweet only the interesting things.
The other speakers are former World Bank managing director Dr Mamphela Ramphele, the first Indian F1 driver Narain Karthikeyan, and AirAsia Group CEO Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes.
R.AGE is the media partner for YES2009. Follow @thestar_rage (www.twitter.com/thestar_rage) on Twitter for live updates of the sessions and of the summit today.
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