LESSONS FROM LOSING OUR EXPERIENCED AND SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS LEADERS

It's nothing new.  Each generation goes through this, and yet it is still sad and a big adjustment.  Johnnie Jones and John Crosland were two big names in construction in our area for decades, but both are now gone.  The Charlotte area has seen other highly respected business leaders to pass away.


As has been discussed before, Charlotte is  also gradually seeing many business leaders retire, and their organizations have had to sort through the existing professionals, seeking ones who are capable of taking their places.


Lately, some younger professionals, who have been examining their own future careers, have shared their concerns with me of not knowing how to handle "business ethic dilemmas".  Furthermore, a large portion of these young professionals do not feel very confident in the current leaderships.  These young professionals believe there is a lack of wisdom by current leaders, which weakens the trust of their new professionals.


Therefore, there seems to be two issues in regards to losing our well-respected and successful business leaders. 


1) How can we teach our up and coming business leaders how to handle business ethical issues?


2) What can be done to help our leaders be more confident, as well as strong and full of wisdom?


1a) It would seem to be a prudent and an efficient approach to strengthening "business ethics" by having regular and frequent discussions among each organization's leaders and prospects.  One session would be a waste.  It is critical that this important topic be reviewed once a month or every six weeks. 


2a) Anyone can make a mistake, therefore, leaders need to be given a fair amount of responsibilities, and made accountable, noting what mistakes are made and how it should have been handled.  With each mistake and information on how to correct this, a prospective leader will learn from those mistakes.  With each "lesson", a person's confidence will build and that experience will make them wiser.


Losing good leaders is sad and hard, but this is why prospective leaders must be  identified early and trained.  It takes time to develop new leaders, which is why it is so important to recognize those potential leaders and provide them with training and coaching as soon as possible.  These people will be the ones to take us into the future.