The One Trait Most Leaders Don't Have

The Future Of Work With Jacob Morgan

Are you a leader that truly acts like a coach and mentor? A leader who actually believes in being a coach or mentor to their employees doesn’t stop once the employees get to a certain level of success. They are willing to help others be more successful, even if it means the employees become more successful than they are.

But what I often see is that leaders act as a coach or mentor to employees up until they reach a certain level of success and then the leader holds the employees back or pushes them down, so as not to be outdone by their mentees. But that is not a true coach/mentor.

A true coach/mentor guides, encourages and helps their mentees and when the mentees reach a level of greater success than the actual coach/mentor the coach/mentor is filled with pride, accomplishment and happiness knowing that they helped the mentees get there.

Think about the relationship between a parent and child. If a child becomes successful in education or sports or a special skill, the parent doesn’t push them down and say “how dare you be more successful than I am in this area! I created you, and you dare to outdo me!”. No. They feel overwhelmed with pride in their child. The parent gets excited to see their child accomplish things they themselves were never able to do.

That is how we should think and act as leaders. We should take pride in seeing our employees succeed and move up in the company. Do you show up everyday with a coaching/mentorship mindset?