Leadership: do you have the right people?

I once had a dinner with a very well known leader who had just retired as the CEO of one of the biggest companies in the world ever. Here is a brief part of the conversation:

Me: Leadership is hard
Him: It is
Me: It is lonely being at the top
Him: Hans you aren’t a leader
Me: What? Why?
Him: Because a lonely person is not a leader. A leader is a person who gathers a team and leads them somewhere. If you are alone you have no followers and therefore you aren’t a leader!

These words floored me! Partly because an oft quoted leadership maxim ‘It is lonely being at the top’ is seen for what it is: absolute crap.

If a leader is someone who, through influence and example, inspires, motivates, rebukes, trains and teaches a group of people to reach a goal or destination.

It is all about people and who you have around you.

Would Michael Jordan have won all those championships without his teammates?
Without Scottie Pippen and his all round play?
Without Horace Grant or Dennis Rodman providing the muscle down low?
Without the three point shooting of Kerr, Paxson and Kukoc
Without a coach like Phil Jackson who mastered the art of taming fragile, overpriced egos?
I think not

You show me a great leader and I will show you a person who can pick the best people for then job, motivate them, train them and inspire them to be the best they can be for the organization, church, team or whatever they are a part of.

What kind of people do you want?

Jack Welch the CEO of general electric said he looks for people who have four E’s and one P

Welch says he wants people with Energy, people who have the ability to Energize those around them, those people who Execute and get things done and those who have the Edge to make tough calls under fire. All these are useless if they don’t have Passion that is the P.

I am blessed with the right people around me in my church plant. People who love me enough to say the hard things to my face, who execute on things we need done and who are passionate people with energy.

Have you got the right people around you? Or do you just get the first people who put their hand up for the job? If you get the right people your job will be made mostly easier but if you get the wrong people you will probably go nowhere.

As a leader, who is surrounding you?