Where do Excellent Leaders Come From?

The defining characteristic of an excellent leader is the ability to reproduce. The generous act of divesting one's own influence into the lives of others is truly excellent. You can call this empowering leadership, servant leadership, or leadership multiplication. Regardless of the name, it is the answer to our question today: where do excellent leaders come from?

You may be on your way to becoming an excellent leader. This is because someone else invested into you. Excellent leadership is a social experience and cannot happen in solitude. It is wholly dependent on the generosity of one and the receptivity of another. These transactions, of giving and receiving, are two sides of the same coin. The coin is called humility and it cannot be duped. 

“Humility cannot be duped.”

Humility is the key to excellent leaders who go on to make excellent leaders. It is also the key for those who are being made better. Pride restricts our ability give or receive; it is the source of all selfishness and poverty. Humility is the source of all empathy, wisdom, and honor. Without it you have already peeked and are sliding down the backside of great.

Leaders who do not replicate themselves cannot be excellent. Their leadership may be dynamic, memorable, and important but it can never be excellent. This is why celebrities are rarely excellent leaders. This is why politicians are rarely excellent leaders. This is why you have never heard of some of the most excellent leaders the world has ever known. 

Excellent leaders come from the excellent leaders before them. They are marked by the ability to reproduce themselves through the selfless act of investing into others. They are humble and know how to give and how to receive. You can be an excellent leader too. All it takes is your willingness to put other people ahead of yourself.