The Steady Leader: on the Mindset of Raising Leaders
There are a lot of things we can model – especially in leadership – and we can even build a model for raising leaders. But it must first start with your mindset. You see, raising leaders isn’t so much a model as a mindset. There’s talent in your midst. There are natural, capable leaders who have a ton of potential to become great. How will you cultivate that leadership? Will you walk alongside them? Will you give them opportunities to learn and grow and become? Will you acknowledge their strengths and create space for them in your company? This is the mindset you have to adopt to raise up leaders in your organization. This raising-leaders-mindset will also enable your company to expand exponentially because it means you have the best of the best to help you get there.
As a leader, you have to be the leader who desires to surround themselves with other leaders, rather than followers. A leader who surrounds themselves with followers actually desires power and control, rather than true leadership; they want to be the person who gets to tell other people what to do. But when you are the leader who desires to surround themselves with other leaders, you understand that you do not have to be responsible for everything to achieve success. You are humble enough to know that the strongest companies have many active participants beyond just the leader at the top. You know that having other strong leaders in your organization produces leverage; and leverage gives you more time to think bigger for your business, to take bigger steps, to grow faster.
If you are a leader who desires to actually lead – not control – here are three actionable steps you can take to put this raising-leaders-mindset to work:
Label people in your organization as future leaders. When you meet with people in your organization and assign them the label of “leader,” you will see them begin to rise up to that title. They will act like leaders. It also puts the responsibility on you as the leader to continue to push them to earn and deserve that title. You must continuously build them up and make them stronger for the future.
Create a vision for each of these rising leaders. This vision should depict who they can become over the next 3- 5 years – someone bigger than their current role in your organization. This creates a gap between who they are today and who they will be in the future. Then, use this vision to create a plan for how they will bridge that gap.
Challenge these individuals to execute the plan you have created for them. Challenge them to make the vision you have for them a reality so they may fulfill their leadership potential within your organization. This is what talented people want – they desire to work in a capacity that allows them to live out their fullest potential. And when you give them a vision and a plan to execute, and you challenge them to do it, you will see them make it a reality.
When you take these steps, not only will you garner more leverage as a leader, you will also retain your top talent. You’ll retain them because they will be getting value from you as their leader, and they will be able to see the path to achieving future potential with you. Just remember to continue to build a world big enough for them – the potential you can offer them better be bigger with you than they can imagine achieving anywhere else.
This retention of top talent is probably the secret sauce of growing a successful business. When you know that you can retain your A-players for the long haul, your company will be more predictable and dependable. Having the right talent in place will enable your company to remain steady and strong, always on the up-and-up.
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Written by Schuyler Williamson
REALTOR. Leader. Veteran. Business Owner. Investor.
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God Bless!
~ Schuyler Williamson