THERE’S an aspect of leadership, most so-called leaders don’t like, and that is building others to become leaders. Many don’t realise that ‘building’ is as much an important part of leadership as ‘leading’! Some pretend to build, but just install a weak, proxy leader and hold court from behind. Which begs the question, why don’t most leaders build leaders?
Because they are afraid. Afraid that the person they build will take over from them before they are ready to quit. But that’s exactly what leadership is all about, to invest what we have learnt into others, and in their ability to lead better than us, we bask in the glory of having taught well.
Many years back while being chairman of an international organisation called the Round Table, I decided my theme would be, “Build Leaders!” I had T-Shirts printed with this theme and each of the members proudly wore one. Many years later, one of the members took over as the MD of a large pharmaceutical concern. On the day he was to address hundreds of his employees and stockholders, he pulled out the now old worn-out T-Shirt and holding it up, talked about how my legacy had influenced him, and how he was going to follow the same with all of them.
From the last I’ve heard from him; the company is doing extremely well. What happens when leadership isn’t built? One, the organisation stagnates, and people talk of the good old times under the old leader. And two, the old leader loves this, and even as he basks in the past, doesn’t realise he is a downright failure. Because a good leader is not remembered for what he did, but how the organisation is right now. If it’s falling to pieces, he or she is to blame and never led well. I have spoken to many strong leaders about this; asking them, ‘are you building leaders?’
An example of a good leader is Christ. Even before management books were available, and the world filled with management gurus, he had a great leadership plan in place; twelve men, who lived with him, were taught by him, and then while his ministry was still going on, sent them out with instructions on how to deal with people and situations. They went out as leaders, with powers of healing and preaching, and then came back, where they were told where they had failed and how to overcome that failure and do better.
They certainly learnt much, as their leadership has the greatest number of followers till date. This year, all you insecure leaders and you who have made convenient proxies, step forward and build, invest your knowledge and skills, in not one, not two, but as many as you can. An old worn-out T-Shirt in my cupboard grins at me, as I end this piece…!
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