As you work to master the People Development level of leadership, please keep in mind how the following Laws of Leadership come into play.
No matter how much you want to be a good leader, it will take you time to improve your leadership. Leadership develops daily, not in a day. Likewise, developing people also takes time. You can’t make it happen using a “microwave” mind-set. You have to be willing to take it step by step. You have to put in many hours of mentoring and wait months, years, and sometimes decades for people to develop into good leaders. But it’s worth the effort. Just remember: mentoring is not a race. If you run fast and try to finish first, you’ll finish alone. Leaders who make it to Level 4 cross the finish line in the company of the people they’ve developed.
Mentoring is not a race. If you run fast and try to finish first, you’ll finish alone.
As a young leader I thought, It will be great to have people follow me toward my vision and help me achieve it. I could hardly wait for others to put me first in their lives. I was leading for all the wrong reasons. Good leaders put their people first, not themselves.
If you want to become a great leader, serve the people you lead. Make their success your success. Clear the way for them to achieve. Invest in them so that they succeed. Maintain the mind-set of a servant. Many people pursue success. Few pursue success for their people.
The highest levels of achievement in life cannot be accomplished by any person working alone. People need one another. If you are a leader with a big vision, you won’t be able to achieve it without a team of leaders—an inner circle. These people help you lead and achieve, and are almost like an extended family. If you desire to have a great inner circle, then start developing people. Only by raising up leaders and inviting them to pursue the vision with you will you achieve big things.
“The first method of estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him.”
—Niccolo Machiavelli
Niccolo Machiavelli said, “The first method of estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him.” Look at the people closest to you. What is their caliber? What can be said about their integrity? A leader’s inner circle is the most accurate picture of his or her life. If you don’t like what you see, then invest more of yourself into potential leaders and raise them up to succeed. They in turn will do the same for you.
I once heard Jack Welch say in an interview that when he was at GE, he noticed there were two types of leaders: those who would hide their key players and those who would promote them. He said the leaders who hid their best people had a selfish spirit. In contrast, those who promoted and empowered others had a generous spirit.
People don’t reach Level 4 unless they are willing to empower leaders, promote them, and release them to lead. That takes a strong sense of security and an abundance mind-set. If you want to succeed on the People Development level of leadership, work to address your insecurities so that you can become an empowerer of other leaders.
Leadership productivity and organizational impact begin to occur when a leader reaches Level 3. Those things multiply on Level 4. Every time you develop people and help them become leaders, you not only gain their ability and put their horsepower to use in the organization, but you also engage the abilities of everyone they lead. There is not a faster or more effective way to compound your time, effort, and resources than by developing leaders.
You may have noticed that this is the third time I’ve referenced the Law of Buy-In. Why? Because developing influence with others is a continuing process of earning their buy in.
Few things are more inspiring and energizing than leaders who seek to serve their people and see those people rise up to their potential and become leaders themselves. When leaders act worthy of their positions on Level 1, build good relationships on Level 2, model productivity on Level 3, and invest in their people by developing them on Level 4, people go beyond just knowing the vision. They feel the vision. Why? Because it comes to life in the leader. People find that inspiring and energizing. And they buy in.