Читать книгу Leading from the In-Between - John McAuley - Страница 15

I am not an engineer, but I have learned that there are two major components to bridge building. The first is the substructure. It includes all of the things that provide support to the bridge—the abutments, the footings, the pilings and so on. The second is the superstructure, which includes all of the things that span the river—the bridge deck, the parapets, the sidewalk and so on. The substructure is dug into the earth or bedrock below and is usually unseen. The superstructure is visible, even from afar.

When bridges do not have the right substructure in place in the early stages of construction, they eventually give way and fall down. The same is true of leadership development for emerging leaders. If a solid substructure is not in place, there is great risk of collapse.

There are three critical components to the substructure of leadership development for young people:

•CHARACTER—being honest and true

•COMPETENCE—doing the right things the right way

•CADENCE—sustaining leadership by keeping in step with yourself, others and God

I have seen far too many leaders who showed great promise and potential in their teens and 20s crumble, lose heart or burn out by their 30s and 40s. If you don’t sort out the substructure at the beginning, you will deal with it later, sometimes at tremendous cost. It may be a collapse of character. It may be a failure of competence. Or it may be a crash of cadence. Either way, the substructure of leadership development, the footings, can and should be built in the early life of an emerging leader. This book aims to lay out why and how. The next chapters deepen each of these areas with key leadership development concepts, research and stories from real experience.