There are leaders in your shadow

"I am so sorry!"

Olivia rushed into the room behind the stage, dragging the cabin bag with its broken wheel across the floor.

"I know we are just minutes away from starting the whole conference, what is the status?"

Her heart was beating furiously. Not just because she had been running from the airport bus to the convention center, but because of the stress. The stress she had felt as soon as she had learned that her flight, along with 50 other flights, had been cancelled due to the storm.

She was responsible for the grand opening of the conference, and instead of arriving the day before, she arrived just minutes before the first speaker would enter the stage.

No wonder she was stressed, no wonder her heart was pumping furiously.

"Everything is under control", her junior colleague Anne said, smiling and moving Olivia's bag out of the way.

"Under control?" Olivia couldn't believe what she heard. She had not been able to stay in contact with them, there had been such a chaos at the airport and her phone had run out of battery.

"Yes." Dan, her most trusted collegague and friend, put his hand on her shoulder. "It is all under control. You should have seen when Anne took charge. Everything has worked out well. We are ready. Relax."

Minutes later the conference opened. All worked out well and Olivia realized she had had a great leader right in front of her nose for months, without realizing it.

***

One of your main tasks as a leader, is to grow new leaders.

They will only grow if you step away now and then so they can get out of your shadow.

Once you do, you can enjoy the bonus:  

The inner calmess from knowing that others can step into your shoes the times you can't.

About the author:

Annika Rosendahl is a Storyteller, a Speaker, a Timefinder and a senior leader with more than 20 years' experience from international Research and Development.

Her business Annikaslol uses her books, seminars and trainings to strengthen leaders. 

She is also the author of Visst har du tid, a book nominated for"?rets projektledarbok 2019" by Projektforum and selected to be on display on PMI Sweden's Passion for Projects conference 2020 where Annika will be a key note speaker.