“Here lies a man who was wise enough to bring into his service men who knew more than he.”
– Andrew Carnegie
– Andrew Carnegie
My life has always been about becoming better. When I started teaching in martial arts I was introduced to the idea of developing leaders.
Many years ago I was taught that I was raising potential leaders. That my job was to look for train up and prepare my replacement. Among the many books that I would read, one of them would stand out the most to me. John C Maxwell is as a writer that I've always appreciated. His book, “21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership” became one of the books I would share in many of my lessons.
About three years ago my wife gave me another one of his books for my birthday called “Developing the Leaders Around You.” The first chapter discussed how important it is to look for and raise potential leaders.
In this chapter he mentions John Wooden. John Wooden was a great basket ball coach. He was called the “Wizard of Westwood.” He brought 10 national championships to UCLA in a span of 12 years, two of them back-to-back championships which is almost unheard of in the world of competitive sports. He led the Bruins to seven titles in a row. It took a consistent level of superior play, good coaching, and hard practice. But the key to the success was Coach Wooden's unyielding dedication to his concept of teamwork.
He knew that if you oversee people and you wish to develop leaders, you are responsible to: (1) Appreciate them for who they are; (2) believe that they will do their very best; (#3) praise their accomplishments; and (4) accept your personal responsibility to them as their leader.
Another great coach, bear Bryant, expressed this same sentiment when he said:
“I'm just a plowhand from Arkansas, but I have learned how to hold a team together – how to lift someone up, how to calm others down, until finally they've got one heartbeat together as a team. There's always just three things I say: if anything goes bad, I did it. If anything goes semi-good, then we did it. If anything goes real good, they did it. That's all it takes to get people to win.”
Great leaders – the truly successful ones in the top 1% – all have one thing in common. They know that acquiring and keeping good people is a leaders most important task. An organization cannot increase its significance – but people can! The asset that truly appreciates within any organization is people. Systems become dated. Buildings deteriorate. Machinery wears out. But people can grow, develop, and become more effective if they have a leader who understands their potential value.
The bottom line – and the message to this post – is that you CAN'T DO IT ALONE. If you really want to be a successful and significant, you must develop those that are around you. You must establish a team. You must develop your leaders. You must find a way to get your vision seen, implemented, and contributed to by others. The leader sees the big picture, but he needs other leaders to help make his mental picture a reality.
Most leaders have followers around them. They believe the key to leadership is gaining more followers. Few leaders surround themselves with other leaders, but the ones who do bring great value to their organizations.
As a master instructor, my goal, my ambition is not only to realize the vision that I have in my heart, but to find, train and inspire other leaders around me so that my vision can be realized far beyond what I originally envisioned.
My number one question – always – is AM I RAISING UP POTENTIAL LEADERS?
Are you?
