As a leader, we have the opportunity to help individuals learn and grow, connect and thrive. It is, in fact, more than an opportunity. It’s an obligation. A long ago former boss of mine said that he’d learned a lesson early in his career. He said, only slightly tongue in cheek, that at a point in time he would never hire anyone “smarter or better looking” than he was. He smiled and went on to say the important part, that “good people reflect well on you.”

I accepted those words then, seeing their essential truth and have gone on to confirm them over and over in my career. What any leader should want are the best people and what any leader should do is help those people to become the best. Seems pretty straightforward to me.

And yet—there is always “and yet,” isn’t there? I have seen, too many times, individuals who don’t take the opportunities that they are offered. Not only do they not fully embrace the education and training they are provided but they don’t make any effort to grow on their own, to expand their knowledge. The clues are there even in the interview stage, before they are hired. If you come in and have not read the information on our website, then you don’t care enough to be on our team. If an idea is mentioned and you don’t know what it is, either ask or, better yet, do a quick online search and then ask an informed question. Show what you have and what you bring and not what you lack.

I firmly believe that one of the most important parts of any leader’s role is to help identify and nurture talent, to see individuals blossom and achieve their potential. But I do not believe that it is our responsibility to drag people into learning, to try and compensate for a lack of initiative with endless repetition.

Attitude, I often say, is not everything. It is the ONLY thing. As human beings, we have the capacity to do far more, to dream dreams and make them happen, to build and create and implement. But, if that is to happen, if we are to even attempt to reach our potential, we have to “bring it.” Because if we do, there will be those who open doors and help us walk through and, if we don’t, that is our choice. If we choose to open ourselves, then we can, and will, begin to fill our full hearts.