Years ago I asked a co-founder: if we were a football team, who are we on it? He said, "The captain."
You'd be fooled to think, like me for a moment, that it was the right answer. It's not. I was in Spain when they lifted the World Cup trophy on Sunday, and what stayed with me was the coach. He built a team that didn't lean on its biggest names, left stars on the bench when the game called for it, and earned enough trust that the squad executed his vision with conviction.
It took me a long time to learn that "the best leader is the one people barely know is there, so that when the work is done, they say we did it ourselves." (Lao Tzu). Failed leadership is in the spotlight everywhere right now. It's loud, and frustrating to watch. While leading the right way is often the slower path, I have to believe it's always the right one.
🎵 Michael Jackson — Man in the Mirror
— Nicc