2023 · originally posted on LinkedIn
Know what the secret to hiring on potential is and fostering growth? Being a leader, mentor, or coach who can provide your direct report with the conditions and environment they need to succeed. When a leader operates with a fiduciary duty mindset to help their people succeed, employees who one "takes a chance on" stand the best chance to realize their own success, and yours as their manager.
Show them consistency. Show them levity. Show them kindness. Show them vulnerability. Show them empathy. Show them patience. Show them candor. Show them failure. Show them gratitude. But above all other things, show them more authentic care and attention than they've ever seen before in their careers.
You hold more power and influence in their professional journey than anybody else. How you use that power, how you own that responsibility, will shape the next couple of years of their lives. How you shape it is as much up to you as it is up to them.
When I look back on where I had the biggest and best successes in my career, there was always a constant. The immediate one or two layers above me in the org chart were people who understood this duty. As I look back on the many things my first 18 months as a leader have taught me, I embrace and cherish these sorts of lessons.