The Scouts and Guides of Sweden organize together with the King of Sweden a leadership course for young leaders once in a year. It is a course about value based leadership; how to lead oneself and teams, how to build effective teams in this world full of norms and diversity, what can a leader do to actually respect one and other, to break those norms and how to lead with profit and values?

I joined this course last September, one month after enrolment. The requirements for the course are; age between 20-25 years, have leadership position; at least 2 years of leadership assignments before and some basic leadership training. The course is well known and appreciated, and that’s also why it is challenging to get into. The course was intensive and due by the end of April. We had four weekend modules; one in Helsinki and the rest in Stockholm, I got my own mentor whom I met six times, and meanwhile, we had home individual assignment as well as small group assignments.

VBL was the best leadership course, and best course in general, I’ve ever been in. During this period; I met new friends, learnt a lot about myself and about leadership. In addition, I got a lot of personal development support from my team members, from our small group facilitator, the leaders of the course and from my mentor. I learned a lot about diversity and non-violent communication. I had amazing experiences and discussions with young leaders from Finland and from Sweden.

I think leadership is something everyone should and can learn. It is a topic we should have more education about. Leadership skills are more than leadership assignments; it is actually something about everyday actions. When one understands oneself and one’s own needs better, it becomes easier to understand others and their needs. Value based leadership is like leadership that makes people happy; it is about effectiveness, positive leadership that allows everyone in the team develop during the project and teamwork.

I am very grateful that I got a chance to participate in this course; I could actually be guided by my leadership development in my leadership assignment with my project this spring very closely. I also hope that in future, Metropolia Business School will be able to provide similar leadership courses

Senni Raunio