Everyone Wins When You Develop Leaders
Why should you develop leaders? Why should you dedicate the time, effort, energy, and resources to help other people rise up and lead? Is it worth it? Can it really make a difference? Does the return warrant all the effort that’s required?
Absolutely! Everywhere you look, there is a leadership deficit. In countries all around the world, there are not enough good leaders. That is certainly true in the United States. I think Americans of every party would agree that there are not enough good leaders. The same is true at the state and local levels: we need more and better leaders. And in businesses, nonprofits, and families — there are not enough good leaders!
The good news is that leaders can be developed, and everyone wins when leaders develop other good leaders. If you are a leader — at any level or in any capacity — your organization will benefit when you start developing leaders. And you can do that beginning today.
I want to help you develop leaders. I want to show you the pathway to receiving the leader’s greatest return. There is nothing in this world that gives a greater ROI to a leader than attracting, developing, and multiplying leaders. It’s the key to success for any country, family, organization, or institution.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT DEVELOPING LEADERS
It’s taken me decades to learn what I know about developing leaders. I’ve had my failures, as well as my successes. I’ve poured my life into people only to have them walk away or disqualify themselves. I’ve seen potential in people who couldn’t see it in themselves, and as a result, never grew to be who they could be. I’ve been disappointed and discouraged in the process. But I will never give up. There is no better investment than developing leaders.
As you take this leadership journey, there are some things you need to prepare yourself for:
1. Developing Leaders Is Going to Be Difficult but Worthwhile
If you’ve ever led people in any capacity, I think you’ll agree that leadership is hard work. There are no two consecutive easy days in the life of leaders. If today is easy, you know how tomorrow will probably go. But everything worthwhile is uphill. If the purpose of life was ease and comfort, no sensible person would ever take on the demands of leadership.
Developing leaders is even harder. It’s like herding cats. That is why so many people who lead let themselves become comfortable attracting and leading followers instead of seeking out and developing leaders. Followers usually follow. Leaders, not so much.
However, the work of investing your life in developing other leaders has a high return. As my friend, Art Williams is apt to say, “I don’t promise you it will be easy. I do promise you it will be worthwhile.”
As I think about developing people, I can’t help smiling. For forty-seven years I have given my heart and soul to helping people learn to lead. My journey began with the desire to train a few leaders, and it has taken me far beyond my wildest dreams. Today, I have seen millions of men and women trained as leaders. When I first started, I couldn’t imagine writing a book on leadership. Once I gained enough experience to write about it, I thought I would write a total of two books on the subject. Now I’ve written dozens. In the beginning, I started out developing just a few leaders in my community. Now my organizations have developed leaders in every country in the world.
I’m smiling, not because of the size of the numbers, but because each number represents a person. I may not know all of their names, but each person the people in my organizations have trained lives a better life because another leader lifted him or her up. And these developed leaders are in a better position to improve the lives of the people around them and to make a difference.
