How do we know if someone is worth investing in?

This is a crucial question, and it’s not as easy to answer as it may seem.

Leadership is not a position or a status we’re born into like the queen of England or the crown prince of Saudi Arabia. People can be developed. In fact, that’s our job.

But who should we develop?

Let’s start here:

Someone is ready for development when their values and their actions are in alignment.
Guile and hypocrisy are not a part of their personal ecosystem.

This is important because a leader with a misalignment of values will not only fail to bring clarity, but manipulation and political posturing will be the order of the day.

Someone who says they value creative thinking, but who essentially squashes new ideas from the team doesn’t value anyone’s creative thinking but her own. This is a serious misalignment of values.

There needs to be alignment between word and deed. And it doesn’t even have to be the “right” words and deeds. that can be developed (In many cases. Maybe not every case. More on that later this week). When there’s value/action alignment in a person, there is leadership potential in a person. She knows what’s important to her, and she takes action accordingly.

She is someone to begin spending time with.