The most pressing global leadership issue facing our world today is the lack of concern for grooming and growing the next generation of leaders.

In Thinking In Time (1986), the authors share a story relayed by John Hilldring based on a conversation held with George Marshall during World War II. Hilldring reported that while in the midst of a long day engaged in strategic battle operations, Marshall called him in and mentored him regarding leadership and the future of the nation and its military. Hilldring would later note how odd it was that during such intense operational his boss would take that time out to advise and mentor him about the future.

As leaders, there is always something urgent, pressuring, requiring our immediate attention. However, we must be mindful to ensure our next generations of leaders benefit from our experiences and lessons learned along the way. Leaders must be mindful of how our day-to-day decisions have long term consequences. The futures of our organizations are the result of the things we chose and chose not to do every day. We must constantly assess our environment, identify what could cause an issue and do everything possible to mitigate or remove those obstacles which threaten the future of our organizations and teams.

Johnson(2009) notes that leadership which cultivates the next generation of leaders is an apostolic gift. This person is the fire starter who digs in the trench, creating something from nothing and then moves on to something else leaving the people fully trained and able to carry on the work themselves. I believe this person plants the seeds of success in other people by showering them with information, resources, sharing networks, best practices, etc. These leaders let members ‘shadow’ them to see and not just have explained how the work of the day gets done.

Lastly, as leaders we should be cautioned not to just ‘clone’ ourselves. Northouse (2012) warns against leaders’ tendencies towards homo-social reproduction. People tend to have the best opinions and biases towards people most similar to them. He notes this is often creates a disadvantage for minorities and women and often extends to religious, ethnicity and sexual orientation (pp.359-363).

References:

Johnson, D. (2009). Spirit driven success. Shippensburg, PA: Destiny Image Publishers.
Neustadt, R., & May, E. (1986). Thinking in time: The uses of history for decision makers. New York, NY: The Free Press.
Managing the future: Foresight in the knowledge economy. (2004). T. Haridimos & J. Shepherd (Eds.), London: Blackwell Publishing.
Northouse, P. (2012). Leadership: Theory and practice. (6 ed.). Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publishing.