Empowerment Makes Growth Possible

There was a time when I thought leadership meant protection.

Stepping in, smoothing edges, keeping problems from landing too hard on the people who trusted me. I thought shielding them from failure was a kindness. I thought carrying the weight for everyone was what strong leaders did.

It felt noble.

It was exhausting.

And then one day, someone I once mentored, someone I genuinely cared about, said something that I still feel in my chest.

“𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘨𝘰.”

There was no anger in their voice. Just honesty.

But it stopped me cold.

In that moment, I realized how often I had confused support with control. How often my good intentions had quietly limited someone else’s growth. How often I had unintentionally kept people small because I was afraid of what might happen if I loosened my grip.

𝘌𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘰𝘮.

𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘵.

It means fighting the urge to jump in with the “right way.”

It means resisting the instinct to edit, rescue, or redirect.

It means saying, “I believe in your judgment,” and then actually living with whatever follows, even when it is slower, messier, or wildly different than what you would have done.

The first time I handed off real ownership instead of a neatly packaged list of tasks, something remarkable happened. I watched someone step into a level of confidence I had never seen in them before. Not because I taught them more, but because I stepped back enough for their own strengths to finally take up space.

People do not thrive under constant guidance.

They thrive when they know their leader trusts them enough to let them try, stumble, adapt, and ultimately rise.

The best thing you can give a team is not protection.

It is permission.

𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲-𝗢𝘂𝘁 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽.

The fire is already there in your people.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝘅𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘂𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘁?

𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘐𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦-𝘖𝘶𝘵 𝘓𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘴, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘸𝘸.𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨.𝘤𝘰𝘮