I recall an incident from my younger, more precocious days, when the ideas for organizational improvement flowed from me with little filtering. Many were quite well received and others were not as well received as I had anticipated. Bringing this fact to the attention of my immediate supervisor at the time, he informed me that “perhaps some people don’t like their horse smarter than they are.”
After recovering from the sting of having my contributions reduced to equine status, I understood how unfortunately correct he was. At the same time, I have learned how true leaders do not fall victim to this fallacy. True leaders show genuine, sincere pride in the success of those whom they lead. They have learned that the success of others is a reflection of their own success, and they freely allow credit to be absorbed and enjoyed by those who deserve it most.
There are few actions that jeopardize fulfillment of an organizational goal or objective more than jealousy of individual success. Each individual success is a component within the overall team success. And each individual success is a reflection of the quality of the team and the team’s leader, and move the team and its leader closer to achievement of the goal.
I firmly believe that greatness is never a stand-alone achievement; it is always a collective achievement by good people working well together with mutual respect and admiration for one another’s contributions to the overall attainment of the stated goal.
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