As you think about your childhood, can you remember going by car to some exciting destination? Okay, maybe it wasn’t exciting, but you were in the car and you asked the question that kids have been asking since Henry Ford produced the Model T – “Are we there yet?”
The final facet of Engage and Develop Others is to develop others. For some leaders this comes very naturally and for others it is a discipline that must be cultivated. Regardless of the ease or rigor required, the leaders we admire the most figure this out.
Great leaders Engage and Develop Others. This is the second practice in the SERVE model. There are actually three parts to this practice. I’ll start with the first and explain the others in upcoming posts.
During one of Peter Drucker’s public addresses late in his life, he was asked about the most important decision an executive (leader) makes. He answer was simply: “Who does what.”
Leadership always begins with a picture of the future. People will do extraordinary things when a vision resonates deep within them. This picture of the future is vitally important for leaders and their potential followers. Those we attempt to enlist will want to know, “Where are we going? Why does it matter?”
During our research of great leaders, we found that not only did these leaders serve, they did so in five strategic ways. Ken Blanchard and I wrote a book about them entitled, The Secret – What Great Leaders Know and Do. Here are the five practices we discovered.