Whose gate are you keeping?

Colleagues,

Yesterday, my daughter Mara graduated from college! It is a great accomplishment and marks one of those life-changing moments as she now faces a lifetime of new opportunities and possibilities.
 
I wonder what kind of a leader she will grow into and, critically, who will help her grow into that leader.
 
I also wonder how many people will be in a position to provide that mentorship, but may instead think that she is too young, too inexperienced, too naïve, or whatever else may detract from her making the impression of what a leader “should be.”
 
If I’m completely honest, I have missed hundreds, maybe thousands, of opportunities to mentor future leaders because of judgements I made or having my priorities wrong.
 
Leaders are gate keepers, and one pf those gates determines who gets opportunities to grow their leadership. I have two requests for you today:

1. Find someone in your organization that you have not thought of as a leader and give them some mentoring or an opportunity. Take a chance and open the gate. Maybe they will walk through it.
2. If you have a spare moment, send a few words of wisdom to Mara. She is the one who makes sure you can read this email with your coffee each day, and she is hungry to grow. You can email her here.

 
Do good and be well,
 
Frederick