SmartPulse — our weekly nonscientific reader poll in SmartBrief on Leadership — tracks feedback from more than 170,000 business leaders. We run the poll question each Tuesday in our e-newsletter.
Last week, we asked: How do you feel about our next generation of leaders?
- They’re going to be better leaders than we’ve ever been: 24.25%
- They’ll be as good as we are: 39.34%
- They’ll be worse leaders than we are: 36.36%
We’ve got some work to do. A leader’s job is to create more leaders. The notion that 36% of you are worried that the next generation of leaders will be worse than we are is problematic. That’s a big number and a scary result. If you answered the question that way, remember you’re charged with turning those folks into better leaders than we’ve ever been. Coach them, train them, and develop them. The generation after them will be glad you did.
Mike Figliuolo is managing director of thoughtLEADERS and author of “One Piece of Paper: The Simple Approach to Powerful, Personal Leadership.”