Positive Leadership Change « Wayne Hastings

Paul was extraordinary. A child prodigy. He was trained in the best schools; he always graduated at the top of his class. There was never a leader better qualified or prepared than Paul. At the height of his career (and at this point he was a young man) and power, Paul took charge. He chased his vision with such zeal that his reputation spread far and wide. Paul was a winner in the eyes of the executive team with whom he worked – a man to watch and on the rise.

But, Paul was a singular contributor. During this part of his career, he didn’t build a following. He did not multiply his efforts. He did it all by himself.

Then, one day, Paul was on a business trip. During the journey he was confronted with his own shortcomings and introduced face-to-face with the understanding of what it meant to be a great leader (or what Ron Potter and I describe in our book as a Trust Me leader).

Line many of us, it took Paul a while to figure it all out. He needed some time to reflect and rethink everything he believed about leadership and the right way to do things – the right way to lead others.

But eventually Paul began to understand the principles of Trust Me Leadership. And, once he did, his power and influence began to expand rapidly. He began to establish and build teams throughout his sphere of influence. Compared to his prior work, he was now multiplying his new vision and expanding it through multiplication by teams.

Funny thing, even though his travels took him far away from many of his teams, he continued to stay in contact with them and he continued to build them into trusting teams.

Paul helped his teams through issues of conflict, lost visions, lack of faith and trust, and he drove them toward unity and alignment. He built them into cohesive teams so that they could persevere through many challenges.

Paul’s conversion to a Trust Me leader began to produce fruit far beyond what he could have done on his own.

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