Should We Teach Leadership to the Incarcerated?

I personally believe teaching leadership to the incarcerated could be a game changer. It has the potential to greatly reduce recidivism. Let me share why, and how. 

I’m the youngest, but I was the first in my family to conventionally graduate from high school and the first to graduate college.

I was also the first to become successfully self-employed, lose a fortune in the Great Recession, and the first to go to federal prison.

Having a college degree doesn’t mean you know about life, but it does let you have access to self-help resources. I know a lot of smart people who never finished high school.

I was blessed to find material from Zig Ziglar, Tony Robbins, and my friend the best-selling author and leadership expert, John Maxwell. Maxwell has sold over 30 million books, many of which were bestsellers, and is regarded as the world’s top expert on leadership.

Before my incarceration, I was a volunteer Associate Trainer with Maxwell’s non-profit group EQUIP. We taught leadership around the globe. I read nearly every Maxwell book (at least 40 of them!), and went through hundreds of hours of training before I taught leadership for EQUIP in Kenya, Mexico, Peru, Guatemala, and Colombia. I met my wife during a conference I was speaking at in Guatemala. I’ve been to 11 countries with Equip.

John Maxwell says “everything rises and falls on leadership.”  

In other words, at some point, leadership has to do with every success and failure. 

As someone who has been to prison, I can testify that my own moral and leadership failures led to my lock up. 

The part that makes me mad at myself is that I knew better! 

Losing everything and going to prison was a great source of shame for me personally. It took me years and lots of hard work to overcome shame. If you took my course Getting Past Your Past you know how I did it.

Using what I knew about leadership helped me rebuild a life after prison.  

Maxwell defines leadership as “influence; nothing more, nothing less.”

We know that many returning citizens recidivate because outside influences drag them back to their old lives after they are released from incarceration. 

Leadership is influence. We know many who recidivate do so because they were influenced to return to their old lives. So, why not teach the incarcerated leadership so they can influence themselves in the right direction, instead of being influenced to repeat mistakes?

I believe we have to lead ourselves before we can lead others.

Self-leadership starts with self-control. Specifically, I am convinced if we want to make a meaningful impact on reducing recidivism, and really give returning citizens a fighting chance for a new future, we need to teach them self-leadership. Essentially, teach citizens how to lead themselves in their new free world. 

Of course, teach job skills, and life skills, but most importantly teach that even though they, or should I say WE, made a mistake we still have value. 

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Bob Pelshaw is an entrepreneur, author, business consultant, speaker, writer of the Ask Bob business advice column, and content provider for hundreds of jails & prisons nationally. Bob is a life and business builder, and roots for the underdog because he is one.  

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@BobPelshaw