Great Leaders Know Their Mission Is To Create More Good Leaders
The people development aspect of leadership is often overlooked by leaders. This is especially true for those put into leadership positions for the first time, such as new supervisors, frontline managers, and newly appointed sales managers who have been promoted due to high sales performance.
Leaders whose key aim is to attract followers are interested in authority, power, status, and control. They drive to make people get things done — usually their way (or the highway). While this often produces wonderful short-term results, it is not a sustainable or replicable leadership methodology. It also tends to lead to employee burnout and high employee attrition rates.
However, all great leaders know that their mission is not to create followers, but to create more good leaders for their organizations. This is why people development is a core component of the art of great leadership. It is also why I put such great emphasis on leading people development in all of the leadership workshops and leadership development programs I conduct.
Here are eight of my favorite quotations on leading people development, excerpted from my recent book Great Leadership Words of Wisdom:
Great Leadership Words of Wisdom
Before you become a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader success is all about growing others. Jack Welch
Outstanding leaders go out of their way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it’s amazing what they can accomplish. Sam Walton
If I accept you as you are, I will make you worse; however, if I treat you as though you are what you are capable of becoming, I help you that. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
It is a fine thing to have ability, but the ability to discover ability in others is the true test. Elbert Hubbard
People are your most valuable asset. Only people can be made to appreciate in value. Stephen Covey
The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership. Harvey S. Firestone
If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it. Margaret Fuller
I find that when something that should be happening isn’t happening, regarding talent management, even though the resources are available to make it happen, one of two reasons is the cause: lack of skill or lack of will. Kimberly Janson
I would argue that people development is the single most important priority for all leaders. After all, if a leader is one who achieves progress through the involvement and actions of others, then greater progress will be made when the people being led are constantly being developed and improved.
(You’ll find over 1000 quotations on great leadership from global business leaders, statesmen, athletes, coaches, sages, and philosophers in my recent book Great Leadership Words of Wisdom, available in paperback and Kindle formats at Amazon.)
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