The Youth Movement

A couple of weeks ago I had dinner with a gentleman who is tremendously well respected in the world of banking, someone who I had the pleasure of working for and who I still consider a mentor. We did the standard catching up, talking about my organization, his new org, etc. but like always he gave me something to think about.

So he told me a story about the early days in his career, how he was given an opportunity at just 31 to be a CFO. In his heart, he knew the role was a bit of a stretch, that he was likely punching a few pounds above his weight class, but he was confident in his ability to grow. He then challenged me to think about the opportunities that I was given when I was an up and coming leader. He asked me to find my next “Lamont”.

That got me to thinking about the talent around me. Both younger and more experienced. I am I doing all I can do to provide stretch opportunities for my people?

I have this thing I love to say a lot, “the two things I can’t teach are intelligence and enthusiasm, everything else is learnable”. Given that I am focused on and have my leaders focused on stretch opportunities for our best talent, both inside and outside of our group. I want my people to feel challenged everyday, to be empowered to become better leaders, which not only benefits them, but our company as a whole.

41 year old me knows that 31 year old me would have appreciated that kind stretch opportunity.

Share your thoughts or push back if you disagree – lamont@digitalsince99.com, @digitalSince99