Leadership guru Tom Peters created a memorable idea, which has been repeated many times over by many people:
Leaders don’t create followers, they create more leaders.
One who repeated it, Roy Bennett (@Inspiring Thinkn) coupled the saying with an image of a pride of lions, perhaps by way of lending it more meaning:
Fact:
Only about 1 in 8 male lions survives to adulthood (http://bit.ly/18ghzkk). The rest are either killed by the pride male, or kicked out when they reach puberty, and the bands of rejected young males have low life expectancy. If a male takes over another pride, all male cubs are killed.
Are there any questions here for (male) design firm leaders?
- When you’re shaving, do you sometimes catch a glimpse of a lion in the mirror?
- Have any of your bright young lions wandered off because they didn’t see room for themselves at the top?
- Do you ever think about what you need to do to “work yourself out of a job”?
- How much power do the females in your pride have?
- Do you have trouble “letting go” – of control, of clients, of everything?
- Is it more important to you that you survive, or that the pride survives?