Leadership is generational
Every great or good leader I have studied or known all had one thing in common: Somebody saw their potential and called them out. They had an authority figure or a prophet, an “evangelist” or a teacher/coach who handed them the reigns one day, or encouraged them to go out and find their own place of influence.
There comes a point at which every leader must see past his or her own headlights. [click to continue…]
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To see in him the image of two – an increase to my place in the world;
To shelter him, and walk at his pace until he can walk at mine;
To lend my strength until he has his own;
To model a partnership of intimacy and trust;
To introduce him to an abundant world;
To teach him the ancient ways, that will live in him beyond my lifetime;
To set him free, even from my influence;
To touch eternity by the ways I touch his life…
This is the sacred trust – to forever remain the friend of a child.
Photo Source: Scenes from Indonesia
Photo credit: REUTERS/Beawiharta
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Last month Penelope Trunk, writer for the Boston Globe and the Brazen Careerest blog, wrote about her relationship with her favorite mentor, Chris Yeh. It’s a great read (here) about the importance and cultivation of mentoring relationships. When Penelope started her company, she asked Chris to be an advisor. He agreed and told her the best way to use advisors:
Call at times you know are easy for them to talk,
Keep them up to date, and
Ask them what you should be asking them about.
Read that last one again. Chris understands something about leadership, productivity, and guiding people toward personal and professional excellence: Exceptional leaders aren’t the ones with all the right answers; they’re the ones who ask the right questions.
Want an interesting study? Check out the lives of great leaders, past and present. Find their guiding questions. Go beyond what Churchill, Ghandi, Dr. King, Golda Meir, Jack Welch, Lincoln, Margaret Thatcher, Colonel Sanders, or General Patton said or did. (How’s that for an eclectic bunch?) Look at the questions they asked.
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