Don't decide someone isn't ready or a leader before they've had a chance to prove it. When you label people that way, you treat them differently and stunt their growth. Instead, set high standards but let them find their own answers and make their own decisions.
I think we have to be really careful about deciding who someone is. She's not ready. He's not a leader. She doesn't speak up. He needs too much help. And look, maybe right now some of that's true, but once we decide that about somebody, we start leading them in that way. We don't ask what they think because we're pretty sure they don't know. We check everything they do because we don't completely trust them. We give the bigger opportunity to somebody else because it's easier, safer. And then 6 months later, we look at that same person and say, see, they're still not ready. Maybe. But I think we have to be willing to ask, did we give them any room to become ready? That's one of the things I love about Guide, Don't Drive. It doesn't mean lowering the bar. It doesn't mean handing somebody something they're not ready for and hoping for the best. It's actually the opposite. Keep the standard, but instead of always giving them the answer, help them learn how to find it. Instead of making the decision for them, help them build the judgment to make it. Instead of deciding what they're capable of based on who they've been, give them the chance to show who they're becoming. I've had people see something in me before I completely saw it in myself, and I know what can change. So for me, Guide, Don't Drive isn't just about getting leaders to stop being the answer. It's about building people who don't always need one. And I don't ever wanna become someone so certain about who somebody else is that I become part of the reason they stay there.
