How Sikh Youth Are Learning to Lead with Seva and Intention
By Muskaan Kaur, SikhLEAD 2025 Regional Intern
Go inside SALDEF’s SikhLEAD Speaker Series to see how Sikh youth are learning to lead with intention, seva, and community-centered values. Featuring insights from changemaker Kulvir Singh.
Last Friday, SALDEF’s SikhLEAD Speaker Series gave Sikh youth a powerful opportunity to explore those questions with changemaker Kulvir Singh. In an interactive and thought-provoking session, Kulvir challenged interns to rethink leadership—not as a title, but as a reflection of values.
He introduced a compelling metaphor: a leader sets the ceiling for their team. Traits like ego and impatience lower that ceiling, while empathy, motivation, and transparency raise it. The group quickly saw how seva—the Sikhi-based practice of selfless service—embodies the very qualities that empower strong, community-minded leadership.
By anchoring success in service, SikhLEAD interns are not just preparing for careers—they’re preparing to uplift entire communities.
“Leadership matters, intention matters.” Kulvir Singh’s session could be encapsulated by this short phrase. Our gurus approached their eras’ issues in their own unique ways, but their intentions remained unified.
ਦੇ ਦੇ ਮੰਗਹਿ ਸਹਸਾ ਗੂਣਾ ਸੋਭ ਕਰੇ ਸੰਸਾਰ ॥
They give and give, but ask a thousand-fold more, and hope that the world will honor them.
Kulvir reminded us that seva isn’t selfless when we go into it intending to advertise ourselves as Sikhs, wanting to gain volunteer hours, or giving our ego a boost. Taniya Kaur, a SikhLEAD intern from California, stated, “This was an eye-opening perspective in a world where we are often encouraged to post about our volunteer work on social media under the impression of ‘inspiring’ others.”
We reflected on our own leadership experiences and actions, aiming to commit to seva in a way that supports those around us and adopts the Sikh worldview that the human race is one, and Waheguru exists in each of us as Jot.
Seva guides us to become more ethical, uplifting, and kind leaders. But it also helps us expand our careers by giving us real-world experience and an outlook that others often don’t have.
Gracy Kaur, a SikhLEAD intern from Pennsylvania, reflects on what stuck with her after the programming session. “What really resonated with me was when Kulvir Singh told us about Harvinder Singh Phoolka and his fight to help his community during the aftershock of 1984.”
Working pro bono to provide legal aid to Sikhs post-1984, he gained vital experience, sound recommendations, and an inspiring career. Harvinder Singh Phoolka’s seva was exactly what helped him succeed and continue to give back to the Sikh community.
As interns and teenagers, we struggle with balancing Sikhi, school, seva, and college applications. In a few years, we may prioritize our careers, a necessity to exist in the modern world, forcing seva to often get put on the back burner.
However, Kulvir Singh provides us with an alternate outlook. “Wouldn’t it be amazing if your career became seva and seva became your career? These are not separate things… As a Sikh, you should find that the thing you do for a living is the thing that changes the world.”
Through this SALDEF-led programming, the SikhLEAD Regional Cohort gained a deeper understanding of how Sikhi can not only guide their personal values but also shape their professional journeys. By connecting the principle of seva with leadership, SALDEF equips Sikh youth to step into roles where they lead with purpose, integrity, and courage.
As Kulvir Singh reminded us, true leaders are those “willing to speak truth to power.” Thanks to SALDEF, Sikh youth nationwide are being empowered to do just that—starting in their own communities and carrying those lessons far beyond the summer.
To learn more about the SikhLEAD program, please visit www.saldef.org/sikhlead