As the deadline for entries to the 2006
Leading Wales Awards approaches, 24 year old Mike Emery,
founder of the successful children’s charity World
at Play, shares his success as a young leader in Wales.
It’s funny just how quickly and
easily an idea can come to you and from that moment on your
life is changed forever. I worked hard in school (most of
the time!) but I was always a bit of a drifter. I didn’t
know where I was going or what I wanted to do.
Inspiration can come from anywhere. When
I was at university, I worked as outdoor instructor, teaching
games and activities to disabled and disadvantaged children
in Wales. I bonded with a young boy in my group who was
suffering from terminal cancer and who shared the same birthday
as me. He thanked me for the time I’d spent with him
and told me that the week he had spent at the centre was
‘the best week of his life’. He passed away
later in the year.
Knowing you can make a difference gives
life focus. It can also give rise to the best ideas. It
was after many memorable and enjoyable times teaching children
to play, that World at Play was conceived.
Leadership is not always something you
are born to be and nothing can prepare you for it. I clumsily
stumbled into the role of leader and with it all the stresses,
worries and long hours the position brings. I don’t
think I am a natural leader, especially when compared to
my father, who has run a successful business in South Wales
for over 30 years, but I try hard and now I’m here,
it feels right.
‘Don’t get stressed, just
get busy’. That’s almost become my motto at
World at Play because what I lack in delegating abilities,
I make up for with long nights and hard work. The charity
is growing rapidly and we are now preparing for our second
and third expeditions, which will see us travel to Indonesia
to work with the children affected by the tsunami. I am
now leader of nearly 20 project coordinators and I’m
only 24. Who’d have thought it?
Persistence is key. I set about leading
our first campaign for money in 2004. I began by writing
hundreds, maybe thousands, of letters to companies but received
little response. However, slowly but surely, and thanks
to the generosity of some well known Welsh companies, the
money began to come in. Within six months we’d raised
£50,000.
Children deserve the right to meet life
with their heads held high. They deserve our attention and
they deserve to play. World at Play (www.worldatplay.org.uk)
believes that children are the keystone to a just and peaceful
world and that is what inspires me to lead.
Nominations for The Leading Wales Awards 2006 are open.
To nominate a great leader at any level in an organisation
log on to www.leadingwalesawards.com. Deadline for entries
is Friday 11 November 2005.
MIKE’S TOP FIVE TIPS
1. Be prepared to make an executive decision
2. Be ready to accept that you could be wrong
3. Treat everyone as you wish to be treated
4. Work as hard as you expect your team to work (if not
a little harder!)
5. Learn how to run your organisations finances, even if
it’s not your actual job
MIKE’S TOP FIVE DON’T’S
1. Don’t make too many executive decisions
2. Don’t get stressed
3. Don’t imagine that because you can lead, you are
automatically the best choice of chairman
4. Don’t delegate what you can’t do yourself
5. Don’t stop having ideas
Notes to editor
WORLD AT PLAY
“World at Play” organise expeditions
across the globe to work with socially, mentally and physically
disadvantaged children. We involve these children in games
of productive developmental sports and play through well-organised
sessions and activities.
We aim to build their confidence through
the universal language of 'Play', fostering international
understanding through the exchange of games, and leaving
a lasting legacy by the donation of sports equipment and
the training of local leaders.
Our Patron Ieuan Evans who Mike Emery
recruited early in 2004, to whom we owe many thanks, recently
described my organisation, as ‘Wales taking a cwch
to the world’. Mike said: “ I like that expression.
On our last expedition, where I co-lead 12 young people
from all around the world as we made a journey from Wales,
through Croatia, Bosnia, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey, and
we worked with over 3000 children, the indelible images
of the children smiling and playing, is testament to Ieuan’s
statement. “
