Alhamdulillah it was an honor to connect and share with 109 students from 14 educational institutions across the nation, including International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), Universiti Malaya (UM), Sultan Idris Education University (UPSI), Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT), Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM), Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA) as well as 4 universities from Indonesia and Thailand.
The topic assigned to me was "Visionary Leadership: Navigating Change & Future Challenges", which I broke down to two parts:
1. High Aspirations - redefining what it means to be a "visionary", which we can break down to 3 dimensions: Aim High, Look Far, and Think Wide.
We focused on "Look Far": thinking long term. And that goes beyond "where you see yourselves in 10-20 years", or even the legacy you leave behind.
For Muslims, the mindset goes much further: the Hereafter.
When we view the world with this End in Mind, we can easily reframe hardships into blessings, pain into forgiveness, investment instead of sacrifice, for the wisdom not to be deceived by our present state of wealth (or lack of it), and even our social lives: to approach relationships mindful of the consequences Hereafter.
2. Future challenges: How we can build Resilience in facing a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) world.
For this one, I break down the case study of Surah Yusuf. Prophet Yusuf (Joseph) is a unique example of a person who has gone through the highest and lowest hierarchy in society: from being raised in a prophetic household, to being sold into slavery serving the family of a noble Egyptian leader, to being imprisoned, and finally elevated to a position of leadership, taking over the position his former Master.
His journey takes him across Palestine to Egypt, Full of twists, turns, unexpected encounters, and so lots of much-needed life lessons and wisdom we can learn from.
It was also an inspiration to spend time with the organizing lecturers who made this event happen: Prof Fadzlin and her team, including Dr. Saifuddin and Dr. Liyana. They put in immense effort and overcome challenges with dedication and persistence to make this camp happen, where they faced all sorts of roadblocks, and at the same time, surprising support from sources they never expected. An inspiring reminder of verse 2 from Surah At-Talaq that if we are sincere, Allah will send help and provide a way out: sometimes, in the form of uniting us with other like minded people.
Alhamdulillah, the students are blessed for having such passionate educators who yearn for their students holistic education on character development. Keep up the great work, allahumma barik.
May Allah continue nurturing these future leaders towards success, and leaving behind a positive, long lasting legacy for future generations.
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