Very few great leaders achieve their status without help along the way says John Eades* who lists some of the types of people everyone needs in their career journey.
Ambitious professionals love to hear stories of great modern leaders who have succeeded in their field — however, most would say they needed help along the way.
There are five types of people everyone needs in their life to become a great or successful leader.
The Exemplar:
I have come to define leadership this way — someone whose actions inspire, empower, and serve others to produce an improved state.
The exemplar’s main purpose is to model what good leadership looks like.
They aren’t perfect, but they do provide a target to shoot for or exceed.
The Penaliser:
Gallup research shows that 70 per cent of people who leave their job do so because of their manager.
There are a lot of penalisers or bad company leaders out there ‘managing’ others.
While most people look at the penaliser as a negative, great leaders use their experiences as examples of what not to do.
It becomes a strong driving force in their leadership journey to ensure they avoid ever becoming a penaliser.
These people are typically a bad executive of a company you have worked for or a direct manager that was awful at their job.
They can also be a bad parent or something in your personal life where you learned what you didn’t want to become.
The Encourager:
Being a leader in today’s modern work environment isn’t for the faint of heart.
It’s downright hard and there is no way around it.
Great leaders have an encourager in their corner to give positive words when they need them most.
These people are typically a spouse or significant other, but can also be friends, old bosses, or even a LinkedIn connection.
In my own journey, I have a woman who reached out to me about a blog I wrote and she has poured into and encouraged me weekly for over two years for no reason than to help me achieve my dreams.
The Mentor:
The mentor is different from the encourager because they have deep expertise and experiences to share.
They offer these two things up at varying cadences based on the complexities of the problems a leader is facing.
The vast majority of mentors get great pleasure from their interactions because they had someone similar in their career, and it’s their way to help the next generation of leaders.
The Straight Shooter:
No one can become a great leader without experiencing one or many straight shooters.
These are people who aren’t afraid to be honest and provide feedback in an effort to help improve a leader’s self-awareness and performance.
When receiving feedback from a straight shooter, great leaders are the ones listening with the intent to improve while average leaders are formulating a rebuttal.
If you want to be a great leader, be sure to proactively seek these people out in your career.
*John Eades is the Chief Executive of LearnLoft and author of, F.M.L. Standing Out and Being a Leader. He is also the host of the Follow My Lead Podcast and can be followed on instagram @johngeades.
A version of this article originally appeared on Inc.com
