I read a great interview recently in the Globe and Mail Report on Business by Brenda Bouw with David Garofalo, CEO of Vancouver-based Goldcorp Inc.
The questions ranged from where and how did you grow up to what are your priorities as a leader?
Here is the part that hit me…
“My job as a CEO is all about managing people and recognizing talent and mentoring talent“. Garofalo later adds “What I’ve found is the most effective way to manage people is to give them responsibility and then hold them accountable.“
Leadership is so many things to so many people: strategy, results, success. But the key to leadership at any level (project leadership, team leadership, organizational leadership) is the people. Someone once told me that “no one is a leader until someone out there calls them a leader”.
Garofalo has it right. Lead by managing your most important asset, your people. Encourage, mentor, coach, give them responsibility and stick with them.
With this as your core principle as a leader at any level, you will be positioning yourself for success more often than not.
