How to Develop Leaders in Your Team

Some time back, I was asked to write a chapter for a book on leadership. It came at an interesting time, because I had just spent a week in Los Angeles, interviewing CEO candidates for a venture I was involved in. In 95% of the cases, I was able to disqualify the person within one interview. The reason: weak leadership skills.

Many of these people were in what would be considered leadership positions in the companies they were currently working for. They knew all the buzzwords: leading by example, developing teamwork,
creating vision, delegation, and values. They spoke of managing resources and leading people. Yet none of them impressed me as really understanding how to lead.

I believe that true leadership is the ability to lead others to willingly do things they wouldn't ordinarily want to do.  Think about that a little. Causing people to willingly do things, they wouldn't normally want to do.

In the military environment, a leader might inspire troops to get out of a foxhole and charge an enemy encampment. In a corporate environment, a leader may empower an employee to take immediate
action to save an important account.

In each case, the person wouldn't normally want to do these actions, but they willingly do them. They develop their own leadership qualities because of the influence of the leader they are following. I believe this happens because of the increase in belief and esteem they have achieved as a result of their exposure to that leader. The leader has done much more than demonstrates leadership skills and qualities. They have helped develop positive growth in the individuals they lead. And inspired them to exercise those new qualities.

The old leadership model was to teach people what to think. And the fact is, many people are actively looking to be shown what to think. They search the globe for gurus to follow, and movements to
join. The strong growth today of gangs, religions and cults is a manifestation of this. People watch ESPN and other sports programs to learn what they should think about their local quarterback, they listen to
bombastic buffoons on talk-radio stations to know what to think about political issues, and they read the social columns so they can know who is hip, hot and trendy. The education system around
the world is moving from institutions that teach people how to think - into conveyor belts that disseminate facts to memorize. 

Although this environment exists - real leaders do not exploit it. They carefully choose the people they lead, and select only those who are interested in thinking for themselves. They create situations where people develop problem-solving skills – which foster thought and build belief in themselves. True leaders don't develop people's belief in the leader—they develop the belief in the follower. They foster growing confidence and esteem in those that follow them and help them think independently. This freethinking and newfound confidence causes the follower to empower themselves into leadership ways of their own. Leaders beget new leaders - the real test of leadership.