Rising Leaders “Strategic
Vision Conference” in Washington
By Aisha Chapra
Above: Glimpses of the Rising Leaders
Confrence in Washington,DC.On right is DCM Mohammad
Sadiq |
Washington, DC: A large group
of new and returning members attended Rising Leaders’
Strategic Vision Conference at the Embassy of Pakistan on
April 23. The agenda for the Conference was focused on engaging
participants into discussion about the future of Rising Leaders.
DCM Mohammad Sadiq opened the conference with
remarks about the potential of Rising Leaders. He discussed
the need for the Pakistani-American community to make itself
visible in the mainstream American society. He said that the
way to accomplish this is to give back to society. Professions
that in popular perception contribute to society, are politics,
media, and the arts in general. Young Pakistani Americans
have the opportunity to carry forward the momentum provided
by their parents, most of whom immigrated to the US with little
to their name.
He
said one of the ways we can give back is to include the segments
of the Pakistani-American community whose potential to give
back is not realized. In the Pakistani-American community
the percentage of homemakers is the largest in comparison
to any other minority community in the United States. One
simple way that homemakers can give back to the larger society,
while increasing the influence of the Pakistani community,
is by joining school boards. Mr. Sadiq estimated that if Pakistani
Americans did this, over 70,000 school boards in the US would
have Pakistani representation. Rising Leaders can take the
initiative of incorporating this segment of the Pakistani-American
community by giving women important roles in organizing Rising
Leaders events in their local communities.
Rising Leaders needs to be creative when looking at its future
— it needs to give back to its community to get recognition
and to gain influence. Another way that Rising Leaders can
give back is through volunteering time, especially on Christmas
and New Year. Many other non-Christian communities volunteer
their time on these holidays, which generates goodwill and
recognition. Rising Leaders can help build a strong Pakistani-American
identity through giving back in numerous ways — volunteering
on Christmas and New Year is just one of them.
Mr. Sadiq concluded his address with the statement that there
are many dreams that Rising Leaders has and these dreams can
be realized with organization, hard work, and committing to
greater good.
The conference was designed to divide the participants into
three workshops. The group moderators were Program Director
of Rising Leaders Aisha Chapra, Director of Rising Leaders
and Chair of National PSA Hyder Syed, and Director of Rising
Leaders Yaseen Nazir. Each group conducted three workshops
each during the day. After each small group workshop everyone
met in the larger group, called the “Committee of Whole”,
to discuss the findings and record actions of the workshops.
The first set of workshop discussions focused on Rising Leaders
mission statement and objectives. Each group analyzed the
current mission statement and suggested changes in it according
to guidelines such as: Rising Leaders will be a non-profit
organization; Rising Leaders has filed for tax-exempt status
and its activities must be charitable and educational; Rising
Leaders is raising money for an endowment that will support
its activities in the future; and Rising Leaders is dedicated
to helping people pursue the fields of Politics, Internationals
Relations, Journalism and Media, and Humanities in general.
The Committee of Whole met after the first workshop and each
group had a representative present its thoughts on how to
improve upon the Mission Statement. There was a discussion
on the age limits for Rising Leaders members. Majority consensus
was that Rising Leaders could bring in members who are young
and motivated and will not discriminate against anyone because
of age.
The second set of workshops focused on the Strengths, Weaknesses,
Opportunities and Threats (SWOT Analysis) for Rising Leaders.
In the Committee of Whole, each group presented two recommendations
they thought were crucial for Rising Leaders. One of the recommendations
was to create a chapter that will be the model for other chapters
by having its own Board of Directors and goals.
The third set workshop was focused on future objectives for
Rising Leaders and the exercises in the workshop attempted
to make members think creatively about Rising Leaders. First,
each group was asked to pick a metaphor they thought most
aptly described the Rising Leaders. Next, they were asked
to imagine three to five years from now and what the headline
would be if Rising Leaders is being featured on a major magazine
cover. After these quick exercises the workshop focused in
on the vision of Rising Leaders. People discussed developing
a magazine, a newsletter, a mentorship program and many other
ideas were brought to the table.
In the committee of whole, each group shared a metaphor and
headline they felt applied to Rising Leaders. To close the
day of workshops, Akir Khan, spoke about the importance of
Rising Leaders and Pakistani Americans to get involved in
the American society through politics. He said that Rising
Leaders is a new organization and that this conference is
its first step in creating a strategic plan to achieve its
future goals, “and we must take baby-steps” to
accomplish this. He concluded by thanking Mr. Sadiq and the
organizers for hosting the event.
This was followed with Rahilla Zafar introducing our distinguished
speakers’ panel. Mr. Mossadaq Chughtai, CEO of Zima
Inc., spoke of the importance of certain fields to ensure
the success of the Pakistani-American community: politics,
journalism, and law. These fields will help the community
become stronger and entrench Pakistanis into the American
mainstream.
Mr. Shaukat Sindhu, CEO of Pakwatan.Com, spoke of the importance
of finance and reliability. A person has to be credible and
reliable to succeed in life. “You should always keep
your commitments — your word should be a guarantee and
back that up by building a strong credit.”
Mr. Hanif
Akhtar spoke of the importance of language in the Pakistani
culture and reading literature from around the world. He mentioned
Iqbal, Gandhi, Faiz, and many other great men in history.
He compared how each immigrant community has been where the
Pakistani-American community is today. And that each has struggled
through to become important in the mainstream American society.
Lastly, Mr. Faiz Rehman gave the participants tips on how
to be involved with the media in the US. He emphasized that
one needs knowledge of the media and there has to be a sense
of timing to get coverage.
After dinner, participants were invited to attend a debriefing
session with the DCM and Rising Leaders Directors. The conference
was a huge success and everyone enjoyed the discussion format
of the day. Visit www.risingleaders.org/strategy05.html
for more information on the results from the Strategic Vision
Conference and email RisingLeaders@gmail.com
with any questions or comments.
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