Say it ?

If you prepare someone to become your next future leader, are you going to say to him/her that he/she is your future leaders? Do you tell them that they are potential? Some of my colleagues said that we shouldn’t do that. Since by doing this we give hope to them, make them “greedy” and so on and so on…

Well, I’m not quite agree with this opinion. It is true that when we do it wrong then all bad thing will arise, human is naturally full with ego. But if we do it correctly I think it is good. Motivation is provided externally and internally right? This is one of the most powerful internal motivations, so why don’t we use it? Emotional reward is strong.

I think that if we only one person then it is not good, because he will feel that no one compare to him and starts to become someone that we don’t wanted. So, 2-3 persons will be better. Remember how Jack Welch grooms his future leader? It is true that at the end he lost 2 of his most brilliant personnel because they loss, but well that the price you must pay for it right?

The other is that don’t promise anything, just said that they are good and they have the capabilities and potency to become a future leader. Don’t mess up external and internal motivation all together. External motivation is actually a nasty stuff; it could bring down all the internal motivation in the matter of second. So play nice with it, don’t promise anything, and just say that they are good and potential.

The last thing is that you must remember that their current position and future position are different. We are talking about the way they should think, act and behave. So don’t let them wondering around knowing nothing. They need you as their supervisor to coach them, make them learn about their future challenges. Don’t make them fail and moving from a star into a jerk just by letting them alone. Help them, and coach them.