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Over the last year, I have
had the privilege to mentor
two young accountants
entering their careers. Both
have aspirations to serve as
key leaders in business. The
first, I mentored through a
yearlong internship here at
12Stone® Church. He’s now
joined the team of another
Chairman’s Club member,
The Gem
Shopping
Network.
The second is
on staff with
The John
Maxwell Company, one of the Chamber’s
newest Chairman’s Club members and
featured in this edition of The Executive.
Through both of these experiences, I am
refreshed by the hopes and dreams of a
young professional looking to the future
and challenged to ensure my investment
is adding value. Along the journey, I’ve
come to appreciate that perhaps the greatest
opportunity for the current generation of
leaders is to invest in the next generation
of leaders. And, I’ve come to learn three
valuable things about making this investment.
Investing in Next Generation Leaders
Delivers Significant Return on Investment
As a chief financial officer, I am conditioned
to focus on the bottom line return on every
investment. I look at pay back periods, cost of
capital, and internal rates of return. Allocation
of a scarce resource is a routine task of every
financial leader in every organization. Too
often, those of us in the finance profession,
dismiss the investment in people as an
intangible investment. However, there is
no question that developing young leaders
delivers real returns for the
organization. Investing in
young leaders holds major
upside for the organization.
Young leaders are more
engaged, bring creativity and
energy to their work, offer
suggestions for improvement
and deliver new perspectives
on old challenges.
Investing in Next Generation
Leaders Increases
Organizational Capacity
Next generation leaders
can help carry vision
and strategy throughout
an organization. In most organizations,
the CEO, Executive Director, aka, point
leader, usually is the “vision creator”.
However, accomplishing something of any
magnitude requires leaders throughout an
organization to consistently implement the
vision and strategies of the point leader.
These “vision carriers” come alongside the
“vision creator” and increase the execution
capacity of the organization. Larry Bossidy,
former Chairman and CEO of Honeywell,
in his book Execution observes “Strategies
most often fail because they aren’t executed
well.” We’ve all been a part of or watched
from a distance brilliant strategies fail from
the lack of capable, engaged and aligned
“vision carriers”. In his book The 5 Levels
of Leadership, John Maxwell encourages
the point leader in every organization,
“When you give someone responsibility
and authority, they not only learn, but
they also start to fulfill their leadership
responsibilities. That action transforms
people and organizations. . . . Every
developed leader adds more horsepower to
the organization.”
Investing in Next Generation Leaders Builds
the Future of the Organization
Before joining the team at 12Stone® Church,
I advised private business owners on the
divestitures and mergers of their companies.
I was always amazed at the highly successful
CEO’s who had invested years, and often
decades, building a business, and had never
spent more than a day strategically investing
in someone that could carry that business
into the future. This failure, oversight, or at
best deferred aspiration, most always limited
the options of the leader to exit the business.
It became a “leadership lid” that limited the
value of the business. Dr. Maxwell cautions,
“Don’t allow yourself to become the lid of
your organization. Give it the best chance
for a bright future by developing other
leaders.” By definition, leaders look to the
horizon and take territory that others either
don’t see or believe the risks are too high.
Every leader must recognize that beyond the
horizon he sees lies an unseen horizon for
the next leader and it is his responsibility to
ensure that next leader is prepared to lead
the organization.
I encourage you to look around and
find one or two young leaders to invest your
experience, knowledge and wisdom. The
rewards for that invest will make you a better
leader, improve your organization, and build
for the future.
Investing in the “Next Generation” Leader
C. Norwood Davis, Chief Financial Officer , 12Stone® Church
THE EXECUTIVE – FALL 2011
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