Thursday, October 18, 2007

Growing People

I saw a great quote the other day referenced on a blog. I can't stop thinking about it. It's from the book "Powerful Project Leadership" and the quote is:

"Managers use people to accomplish work; leaders use work to grow people".

This quote captures a great deal of what I think about leadership. It's about really caring about people. You can try to fake it (ala "How to Win Friends and Influence People"), but folks can see through the ruse. True leadership requires, I think, a fundamental desire to develop people to their ultimate potential. It's sort of like the adage "Satisfy the customer; the profits will follow" with a twist: "Satisfy the fundamental needs of your employees to contribute and grow, and the profits will follow".

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