“A leader is best when people barely know he exists. When his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.”
— Lao Tzu

You might be great at what you do...

So great, your people don’t move without your direction.
They don’t step up without your permission.
They don’t act without your action.

If nothing gets done without you, maybe you’re not a high performer — maybe you’re the bottleneck.

That’s not leadership. That’s control dressed up as importance.

You’ve built a system where you’re the hero, the hub,
the hinge everything swings on.

Where everyone waits for you to set the tone, solve the problem, or chart the path.

Being needed can feel like purpose — but in this form, it’s poison. You’re not there to hold hands. You’re there to build people that can hold their own.

Competence builds trust in you.
Leadership builds strength in others.

If you score every point, you're not a hero, you're a ball-hog.

Lead like you’re trying to get replaced.
That’s how you build a team that can carry the mission with or without you.