Over the past months, we’ve gone deep into three out of the five fundamentals of exemplary leadership as discussed in Kouzes and Posner’s Learning Leadership book:

1. Believe you can;
2. Aspire to excel; and
3. Challenge yourself.

Something common to all three of them is about the focus on you as the leader. But thefourth fundamental is different: Engage Support!  It’s all about the importance of the people around you.  

Many, many times people will tell leaders, “Wow, you are lucky, you really have a great team.” Only leaders know they weren’t that great when they started! A great leader loves people, develops people, empowers people, and helps them grow to their greatest potential. Yes, they turn into a great team, but they don’t start that way!

The truth is, if you want to be a really excellent leader, you can’t do it alone. Here’s why other people are important in your leadership path:

1. If you are an incredibly competent person, you still cannot deliver the best results all by yourself. That takes a team. Teams make truly great things happen.
2. Trust and support from others allows you to take more risks, which encourages your growth.
3. John Maxwell is famous for teaching: If you want to go fast, go alone. But if you want to go far, that takes a team. Bonus: When you slip, fall, or fail, a team is there to pick you up!

You can be a great person individually, but becoming a great leader involves developing a team to make the journey with you. You can’t do it alone, and that’s why ‘engaging support’ is a leadership fundamental.

Next week: some exciting ways you can engage support. Let me know your thoughts: rob@leadertribe.com.

Dr. Rob

PS. It’s a very special week around LeaderTribe. My podcast “LeaderTribe: Your Daily Doseof Growth” is ending after 700 episodes. Why am I sunsetting that podcast? What have I learned about my own failures and my own insecurities? Listen to my final week of short podcasts to find out.

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