15th National Student Leadership Forum – Taking it to Canberra – by Jaspal Bhalla

At the end of last month I was fortunate enough to have been one of about 200 nominated to attend the 15th National Student Leadership Forum on faith and values, which was hosted by Parliament in Canberra over 4 days.

During that time I had the privilege of hearing from and speaking to many MPs and other significant figures about what they view as the important attributes of a leader, and what drives them through the path they carve through society. I heard many addresses, but noticeably those of the PM, the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Peter Garrett MP, Senator Claire Moore, and Mr Scott Morrison MP. Discussions with a number of MPs restored my faith our democracy -especially important in the current political climate. The MPs demonstrated to me that those on both sides of politics really do care about their constituents.

During our very touching and exclusive visit to the Australian War Memorial, Mr Stuart Robert MP and Dr Brendan Nelson explained using the backdrop of war how the difference between management and leadership is the presence of a vision.

There were also a number of guest speakers and attendees who have started their own organisations to help others after life in the corporate world (e.g. OzHarvest, OurSay.org, ISIS Foundation). All speakers had their own very unique story to tell about how they ended up where they are today, so it was interesting to see where life has taken them over the years.

The overarching theme of the Forum is the concept of servant-leadership, where a servant-leader focuses primarily on the growth and well-being of people and the communities to which they belong through serving others before self-interest. I saw very clear similarities in this theme with our Sikh concept of sewa, and I’m sure I was not the only one noticing this with nearly a dozen of our Sikh youth represented at the Forum.

I would certainly recommend all Sikh youth attend the Forum if they find the opportunity to do so in the future, as it certainly left me with both much to think about on my life’s future direction from both a personal and professional perspective. The variety of the speakers and the other delegates I met is amazing, so I’m quite sure anyone attending would quickly find which life stories and ideals they relate to best.