Preparing Future Leaders

Dear Uncommon Leaders, 

hope you had a great weekend and found yourself pushing through to accomplish your goals! Shout out to all of the finishers of our local Shamrock 8K, Half-Marathon and Full Marathon in Virginia Beach this weekend! Our Uncommon team showed up strong and carried it through to the finish line! 👏🏃🏽☘️🏁👊

I hope this week's Sunday Nugget challenges you in your own way, Leaders! Have an uncommon week!

Your Sunday Nugget

This Week's Question:

How do you help prepare someone for becoming a leader?

This Week's Challenge: 

Early in my career as a restaurant owner, I was surprised by how often newly promoted leaders were caught off guard by the demands and responsibilities of leadership compared to their previous roles. I had assumed they inherently understood that leadership would be tough—but I quickly realized that wasn’t the case. The truth is, leadership is not for the faint of heart. It comes with challenges, discomfort, and the weight of greater responsibility.

To better prepare future leaders, I revamped my training program to include a set of critical questions for candidates to consider before committing to leadership. Here are a few of those questions:

1. Are you prepared for the increased responsibility and commitment that leadership requires?
2. Are you willing to make personal sacrifices to meet the demands of leadership?
3. Can you handle being accountable not just for yourself, but for the success and failures of your team?
4. Do you have the emotional intelligence and maturity to lead, motivate, and support others—even in difficult situations?
5. Can you make tough, high-pressure decisions quickly and in the best interest of the organization, even if it challenges personal relationships?
6. Are you committed to continuous learning and personal growth to be an effective leader?
7. Do you consistently demonstrate integrity, strong character, and a passion for excellence in your work?
8. Are you currently doing your absolute best in your role, regardless of your title?

Great leaders produce more leaders. To do our best in the effort to guide others in their journey, we need to be real with them about what leadership requires. Your challenge this week is to go over these questions with someone you are developing to lead. They certainly should know what they are signing up for, right?

There are also so many rewards for being a leader and we should discuss those with them as well. Next week, we’ll tackle that list.

This Week's Quote to Ponder:

"Leadership is not about being comfortable. It’s about being courageous." John C. Maxwell

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Until next week,

LET'S GO BE UNCOMMON!

W. Kevin Harrison

Founder and Executive Coach

Uncommon Influence

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