Understanding Potential As A Leader

In my study of Leadership over the years, I come across a lot of quotes.

Many of them are well-intentioned, but as they say, the path to Hell is paved with good intentions.

So often, quotes are hailed for their wisdom, yet they equally often completely miss the mark.

Here is an example of one that I came across recently:

"The mark of great leadership is the ability to see the potential in others."

Many would see this, and think it is wonderful!

They would think about how they can see Potential in others to become a great Leader!

However, the ability to see Potential in others, though important for a Leader to have, does not make them a great Leader.

There are many reasons why it does not make someone a great Leader.

First, many people see Potential in others.

This most often happens when we find individuals we like, and who we quickly feel a desire to contribute toward.

It is easy to see Potential in people we like, and that doesn't make us great.

What is far more difficult is to see Potential in those we do not like, and those we actively disagree with.

So often in our society, when we disagree with others, our first instinct is to cast them out.

However, doing this accomplishes nothing except that it creates more fracturing.

Great Leaders do not contribute more to fracturing, they bring others together instead.

Great Leaders do not just see Potential in "some" others, they must also see the Potential in all others.

However, to see the Potential is not enough.

Seeing Potential is a passive act, however, it takes a different type of individual to draw out that Potential in others.

Truly great Leaders not only see the Potential that exists in others, including those they disagree with, but they learn ways to help others move toward that Potential.

It is active, it creates forward movement and results.

To "see" is not enough to accomplish anything.

However, the most difficult aspect of this quote, the deepest reality, we have not yet discussed.

The way this quote is stated, makes it seem that the Leader has the ability to actually get people to the Potential that can be seen.

This cannot be any further from the truth.

When it comes to Potential, the reality is that the Leader has NO ability and NO control to actually get people to their Potential.

You can see all the Potential in the world as a Leader.

You can know all the tactics to draw out the Potential that you see.

Yet, ALL of that means absolutely NOTHING if the individual in who you see Potential has no desire to reach their Potential.

I know this for a fact.

As a coach, part of my strengths is the ability to see the Potential in others.

I have seen so much Potential in so many individuals, in every individual that I meet.

Almost always, I see far more Potential in others than they see in themselves.

Some of the individuals I have worked with have made great strides toward that Potential, and I am amazed as they do it.

However, far more often I see Potential that exists in others that is not reached.

Why?

They simply have no desire to move toward that Potential.

I could attempt to push them toward it, but at the end of the day, it would accomplish little, if anything.

If they do not want to reach their Potential, there really is nothing that any Leader can do.

For a Leader to think they can force anyone to do anything is a mark of hubris, not worthy of being called "great".

No, it is not a mark of a great Leader to see the Potential in others.

Instead, it is the mark of a great Leader to recognize when an individual "wants" to reach their Potential and then work with them to move toward that Potential, even if they may not seem like the best or most likely individual to attain their Potential.

Great Leaders look past their own biases and doubts to find the individuals that truly want to become the best versions of themselves and work with them to get there.