Teach For All's Wendy Kopp on Cultivating Leadership | Big Think

I started Teach for America now 25 years ago. And as you may know, Teach for America recruits top recent college grads, young professionals, people we believe are the US's most promising future leaders, and ask them to commit two years to teach in high-need urban and rural communities.

The big idea is really to generate a growing force of leaders who not only have an immediate impact during the two years they initially commit, but who end up working throughout their lives—from inside of education, from outside of it, at every level of policy—to effect the fundamental kind of systemic changes necessary to ultimately ensure that all kids in our country fulfill their true potential.

And I was thinking about nothing but trying to get bigger and better in the US when it must have been about eight or nine years ago. There was something in the water. I started hearing from social entrepreneurs, 13 people in a year's time from India to Lebanon to Chile to the next place, who were just absolutely determined to bring this model to their context. To call upon India's most promising future leaders. Ask them to commit two years to teaching their highest need communities, invest in their development as a long-term force for change.

So that's how Teach for All came about. We're now seven years in. There are 33 and growing independent social enterprises really in every region of the world who are working to essentially cultivate the leadership capacity necessary to ultimately ensure again that all kids have the chance to fulfill their true potential.

Cultivating Leadership: Recruitment, Selection, and Development. This year Teach for India had 13,000 people competing for about 500 spots. Teach for Pakistan had more than 1,000 people competing for 40 spots. And Enseña por Columbia had 2,400 folks competing for about 50 or 60 spots.

So aggressive recruitment on college campuses, surrounding these programs with an aura of status and prestige. And at the same time, asking folks to commit two years, because for the most talented recent college grads, the people who have the most other career options, who are under enormous pressure from their families and from society at large to use their education to get on these career tracks that make a lot of money, et cetera, it's just... everyone else is asking them to commit two years. And these are folks with an inclination to want to make a difference. They want to do this, but they're under so much pressure that they can't commit a whole lifetime to it.

So asking them for two years at the start enables these programs to pull in truly some of the most highly sought after young leaders in their countries. Each of these programs has a very intensive selection process. And they're looking for leadership characteristics. For people who have taken on big challenges, have persevered in the face of obstacles to reach big goals.

People who can influence and motivate others, who are strong problem solvers. People who will work with a lot of respect and humility. So very intensive, not only recruitment processes, but then selection processes...