Building Legendary Leadership® is a leadership development program designed for high-school level young people and may be conducted in a school or extracurricular environment, or in a youth group environment. The program consists of a series of facilitated experiences focused on helping each participant develop his or her “story” as a leader and identifying and committing to adopt leadership behaviors.

Participants focus on leadership imperatives: values, teamwork, excellence, commitment, and action. In addition, they learn the importance of perseverance, a sixth imperative to achieve one’s goals as a leader.

• To identify personal values: Values ground and guide behavior; they provide boundaries; and they form a framework for self-respect, self-confidence, and self-discipline. The key behaviors we look for are honesty and truthfulness, ethical behavior, self-respect and respect for others, and the courage “to do the right thing when no one is looking.”
• To be able to work in teams and collaborate with others: The exercise of leadership requires working with others. Teamwork, collaboration, communications and other interpersonal skills are essential to effective leadership. Things we look for are trusting and being trustworthy, sharing credit and rewards, listening to others, communicating effectively, and supporting others.
• To foster a passion for excellence: A commitment to excellence is a hallmark of leadership and self-respect; it reflects the Legacy of General Patton’s Legendary Leadership. Things we look for are leading by example, striving for excellence, a sense of humility, and “encouraging the heart.”
• To foster a sense of commitment: Passionate commitment and perseverance have long been recognized as leadership essentials. Effective leaders must be committed to their organization and to their teammates, and they must be willing to take personal risks for the success of the team. Things we look for are inspiring a positive vision, being good at what you do, never giving up, and trying new things.
• To develop a specific, individual leadership action plan: Leaders “make things happen” and that requires not merely commitment but well developed critical thinking, analytic, problem solving, and decision making skills. We want our leaders to be “where the action is” and to be positively influencing the action. Things we look for are decisiveness, taking responsibility, personal action, supporting action in others, following through (completing things), continuous learning, and sharing rewards.
• To understand the importance of perseverance: General Patton described leadership as “how high you bounce” when you have suffered a set-back. Effective leaders are tough minded, self-confident, and persistent. Things we look for are encouraging others, maintaining a positive attitude, rejecting “failure,” overcoming handicaps and personal weaknesses, innovation (trying new things), and just plain hard work!

Our intent is to create a workshop in which students, organized into small workgroups, learn together in an environment that has solid “academic” content, and in which they can build personal leadership models and commitments, inspired by the example and “environment” of the General Patton Legacy.