For how long is a driver a “proper” driver? When does “I still have more to offer” become “I can’t let go”?
In my book “The Footprint of Leadership – Why Leadership Should Be Temporary”, it is this question that has generated the most controversy. The job of a leader is not to stay in the box forever, but to grow other leaders, to grow out of the role. I sincerely believe this, and I think that, at the very least, managers’ contracts should be temporary and renewable by a maximum number of years. As is the case with the office of President of the Republic.
I know we don’t want to talk about it and admit it to ourselves, find reasons why it’s not about me, etc. Yes, it is uncomfortable to acknowledge it. Uncomfortable for the manager who has to acknowledge their own impermanence, and uncomfortable for employees who are used to the status quo. Uncomfortable for those who see the loss of power as weakness, not progress. But everything in life is temporary, including life itself.
But why is it so difficult to acknowledge this temporality?
There are other reasons, but in working with clients and colleagues I have identified the most common:
👉 Fear of losing identity. I fear fear of fear of losing my job… If I am no longer a manager, who am I?
👉 Fear that everything will fall apart, that what I have built will collapse. Have I really created something if it cannot exist without me?
👉 Fear of being forgotten, of no longer being important. Does my value depend only on my position?
👉 Fear that someone else can do better. Can I cope with someone coming in to take things to the next level?
👉 Fear of not learning anything new. What if, faced with a new challenge, I find I’m not as adaptable as I’d hoped?
👉 Fear that others will realise that my best days are over. If I leave now, does that mean I’ve lost?
When is the right time to let go?
✅ When energy is spent more on justifying your position than on creating the future.
✅ When people stop growing around the driver and stand still because they know you’ll always be there, or that’s the way it’s always been done and it’s safe.
✅ When the leader starts to talk more and more about what has been, not what is to come.
✅ When the people in an organisation no longer grow alongside the leader, but remain a shadow of the leader, a tool for the leader’s ambitions.
✅ When the organisation/team evolves more slowly than the surrounding environment and sector.
Top leaders often talk about legacy. But legacy isn’t how long you’re in a job, it’s what’s left of you when you’re gone. Have you left a footprint that will last without you?
Leadership is merely a stage that prepares the next stage of growth – for the leader himself and for the organisation, the next leader.
It is the job of the manager to make his role redundant. This is the most mature way to practice leadership – to build a system that can work without him. A leader who builds autonomy, responsibility and freedom around him or herself will one day be able to say without inner fears: “I’m no longer needed, it’s time to move on.”
