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One of my greatest disappointments in life has been seeing people squander their potential. We constantly underestimate our own capacities, and we're also vulnerable to underestimating what other people are capable of achieving. The measure of a leader's success is how much the groups they're in charge of ultimately accomplish. That means that if you fail to help people realize their potential, you are failing as a leader. When I work with leaders, I tend to see them fall into one of two traps when it comes to developing their people. One is that they're cheerleaders and the other is that they're critics. If you're a cheerleader, you recognize people's best selves and you try to harness their strengths, but there's good empirical evidence to suggest that when we become too comfortable with our strengths, we start to use them as a crutch. And they can even become career derailers. So if one of your strengths, for example, is charisma, you are at risk for under-preparing when it comes to leading a meeting or giving a speech because you're so good at improvising and speaking extemporaneously, you may not do your homework.

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One of / my greatest disappointments in life / has been / seeing people / squander their potential. // We constantly / underestimate / our own / capacities, / and / we're also / vulnerable to / underestimating / what other people / are capable of achieving. // The measure of a leader's success / is / how much / the groups / they're in charge of / ultimately accomplish. // That means / that / if you fail / to help people realize / their potential, / you are failing as a leader. // When I work with leaders, / I tend to see them fall into one of two traps / when it comes to developing their people.// One is / that they're cheerleaders / and the other is / that they're critics. // If you're a cheerleader, / you recognize / people's best selves / and you try to harness their strengths, / but there's good empirical evidence to suggest that / when we become too comfortable with our strengths, / we start to use them as a crutch. / And they can even become career derailers. / So / if one of your strengths, / for example, / is charisma,/ you are at risk / for under-preparing / when it comes to leading a meeting / or giving a speech because / you're so good at / improvising / and speaking extemporaneously, / you may not do your homework.

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I don't think you just want to be a cheerleader because you are in danger of letting people turn their own strengths into weaknesses. I think the problem with critics is they often deflate the people around them. If you're constantly telling people what they're doing wrong, people get discouraged really quickly. Their motivation starts to falter. At some point, they begin to doubt whether they have any potential at all. I think the best leaders are neither cheerleaders nor critics. They're actually coaches. They see people's potential and they try to help them become a better version of themselves. They allow people to recognize their strengths but not get complacent around them. They allow people to see their weaknesses but not get discouraged by them. And they remind people, "Yes, you might be pretty good today, but you're capable of becoming even greater tomorrow." And that energizes people to want to become better as opposed to being comfortable with where they are or completely incapable of growing from where they're stuck.

Let's follow Adam...

I don't think / you just want to be a cheerleader / because you are in danger / of letting people / turn their own strengths / into weaknesses. // I think the problem with critics / is they often deflate / the people around them. / If you're constantly telling people what they're doing wrong, / people get discouraged really quickly. / Their motivation starts to falter. / At some point, / they begin to doubt / whether they have any potential / at all. // I think the best leaders / are neither cheerleaders / nor critics./ They're actually coaches.// They / see people's potential / and they try to help them/ become a better version / of themselves. // They allow people / to / recognize their strengths / but not get complacent around them. / They allow people / to see their weaknesses / but not get discouraged by them. / And they remind people, / "Yes, / you might be pretty good today, / but you're capable of becoming even greater tomorrow." / And that energizes people / to want to become better / as opposed to being comfortable with where they are / or completely incapable / of growing from where they're stuck. //