MENTORS MAGAZINE | EDITION 1 | 35
because, at least, they saw that the leader was
trying; putting an effort out there to make
things better for everyone.Mentor
Quaker leader C.W. Perry said:
“Leadership is accepting people where they
are then taking them somewhere.”I enjoy watching people grow, devel-
op their skills, cultivate their talents. I want
to see people excel, become the best worker
they can be, even become leaders themselves
(on a selfish level, the more folks you culti-
vate into leaders, the more pressure you can
take off your shoulders.) I won’t say getting
to this level is easy. I had to take myself from
working in my business and work more on it,
which included, tweaking and cultivating my
people. But when a leader gets to the last
step, mentoring, typically he or she is less
concerned with production output and deliv-
ery and more their people’s productivity.Stepping up the ladder of these four
steps, from Boss, Friend, Delivery Man/Woman and Mentor and retaining the best of
what you learn along the way brings one to
the penthouse suite of leadership. This is
what we saw with Steve Jobs, Martin Luther
King; Gandhi. These leaders stood heads and
shoulders above so many others and were
able to bring all that they learned through the
four steps transcending their workplace, their
class, even their political and cultural struc-
ture—what was expected from them for mere
productivity—making everyone they came in
contact with that much better. The leaders
who make it to this stage can change the cul-
ture, influence technology for the betterment
of us all, lead revolutions, become historical
figures as much as envied CEO’s.I ran through levels one and four with
a few paragraphs for each, but it takes years
to exercise your muscles for this climb, to
not get knocked back a few rungs on occa-
sion, to maintain a level long enough to
make the necessary strides needed to jump to
the next.Step
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