The greatest leadership principle that I have learned in more than thirty years of leadership is that those closest to the leader will determine the success level of that leader. A negative reading of this statement is also true: Those closest to the leader will determine the level of failure for that leader.
The determination of a positive or negative outcome in my leadership depends upon my ability as a leader to develop those closes to me. It also depends upon my ability to recognize the value that others bring to my organization. My goal is not to draw a following that results in a crowd. My goal is to develop leaders who become a movement.
Stop for a moment and think of the five or six people closest to you in your organization. Are you developing them? Do you have a game plan for them? Are they growing? Have they been able to lift your load?
Within my organizations leadership development is continually emphasized. In their first training session, I give new leaders this principle: As a potential leader you are either an asset or a liability to the organization. I illustrate this truth by saying, "When there's a problem, a 'fire' in the organization, you as a leader are often the first to arrive at the scene. You have in your hands two buckets. One contains water and the other contains gasoline. The 'spark' before you will either become a greater problem because you pour the gasoline on it, or it will be extinguished because you use the bucket of water."
Every person with your organization also carries two buckets. The question a leader needs to ask is. "Am I training them to use the gasoline or the water?"
SOURCE: Developing The Leaders Around You
Leadership Challenge:
HAVE YOU TRAINED THE PEOPLE CLOSEST TO YOU IN YOU ORGANIZATION TO BE WATER CARRIERS?
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"If someone were to pay you 10 cents for every kind word you ever spoke and collect from you 5 cents for every unkind word, would you be rich or poor?"
- Anonymous