I’ve been thinking a lot about leadership lately – specifically, how to be better myself.

Here’s what I’ve learned: great leadership isn’t about being indispensable. It’s about building systems, people, and confidence so the organization runs smoothly without you. If everything falls apart when you step away, that’s not leadership – that’s dependency.

The older I get, the more I value leaders who know when to guide and when to step aside. This isn’t disengagement. It’s trust. It’s the quiet confidence of saying, “You’ve got this.”

Some of my most important lessons came from failure – because I was allowed to fail. I’m grateful to the mentors who understood that growth requires room to stumble. I’ve watched salespeople blow meetings, fighting every instinct not to step in. (These were calculated risks – not deals that would sink the company or damage its reputation.) Afterwards, we’d debrief: What went wrong? What would you do differently next time?

One moment shaped me more than most. After losing a significant sale, I told my VP of Sales I assumed I’d be fired, or at the very least I would get reamed. His reply? “Why would I fire you? I just spent $10,000 training you.”
What he was really saying was simple – and powerful: I believe in you. Learn from this. Grow.

And I did.