Teach the People to Fish, for Pete’s Sake

Someone asked a question about leading people through change, and I went off. In a good way, of course.

Here’s the bottom line: we can’t do things in a vacuum and expect those we lead to simply follow. The world is transforming, and we are leaving that mentality behind. It isn’t the way to generate true passion and realize the potential of those we lead. It just isn’t.

We have to engage people and ask them to take accountability for the end result. More importantly, we have to entrust them with that end result. At some point, every parent has no choice but to watch their child drive off into the sunset. You either help them prepare for that or you fight them every step of the way. You either give them opportunities to learn how to screw up and recover when they are small and the consequences are minimal or you continue paying their bills, giving them “loans,” and digging them out of holes well into their adulthood. Without that line of sight to consequences, the word “accountability” means nothing.

Incongruence bugs me, and incongruence of mythic proportions bugs the crap out of me. Teach the people to fish, for Pete’s sake.