The Leaders You Learn From Shape the Leader You Become

An employee's success, the lens they see through, the decisions they make and how they navigate their careers are all heavily shaped by the leaders they get to observe and learn from. That's why so many of today's best leaders were mentored by great leaders themselves.

Success as a leader is, in large part, a by-product of the leaders and mentors we associate with throughout our careers. We absorb their standards, their habits and their way of seeing problems, often without realizing it.

Think about the leaders who shaped you most. Chances are you can still hear something one of them told you years ago, and you've since repeated it to someone else. That's how leadership travels.

The Potent Pioneers Who Shaped Me

I've been fortunate. The mentors and networks that guided me and enabled my full potential were a collection of potent pioneers: explorers of endless possibilities who went on to become prominent leaders in the industries they serve. It's a big part of my story.

Each brought a unique perspective to my development. Their wisdom pushed me to see things about my own leadership capabilities that I had never seen, fully appreciated or understood before.

That's what the right mentors do. They see more in you than you see in yourself, and they expect you to rise to it. They also expose you to people and ideas you wouldn't have found on your own. Often, it's only years later that you realize how much of your own leadership you learned from them.

Study the Leaders Who Shaped Your Leader

When managing your career, pay attention to the leaders, mentors and networks that shaped your own leader's style and approach. When you do, you'll understand at a much deeper level how they were influenced to think, act and innovate.

Every leader is a mosaic of the leaders who came before them. The manager who micromanages may have learned under someone who did the same. The leader who gives you room to experiment probably had someone who gave them that room first.

Understanding those influences helps you work with your leader more effectively. It also helps you decide which habits you want to carry forward in your own leadership, and which you want to leave behind.

How to Know You've Found the Right Leader

You know you've found the right leader for your career when they take an active interest in your growth and success. If your leader shows no interest, that may be an early warning sign that they're the wrong leader for you.

The right leader:

• Pushes you to see the full potential in yourself.
• Takes you out of your comfort zone to put that potential to the test, and watches how you respond to the stretch.
• Never allows you to grow complacent.
• Keeps testing and developing your skills to prepare you for the next phase of your career, not just your current role.

The wrong leader, by contrast, is comfortable with you exactly as you are, which usually means comfortable with you staying exactly where you are.

So ask yourself: does your leader push you to see the full potential in yourself?

Why This Matters More Now

Learning by observation is harder than it used to be. In hybrid and remote workplaces, many employees rarely see their leaders make decisions, handle pressure or work through a difficult conversation. They see the outcomes, not the thinking. Remote work has real advantages. Observation isn't one of them, unless leaders make their thinking visible.

AI can answer questions and summarize best practices. It can't show you how a leader you respect weighs a hard choice, or tell you, with conviction, that you're capable of more than you think. That still takes a person.

That makes intentional mentoring more important, not less. If proximity no longer creates it naturally, leaders and employees both have to create it on purpose. Employees can ask for it directly: time to shadow a decision, a debrief after a difficult meeting, a conversation about how their leader learned what they know.

Be the Leader Someone Learns From

Every leader is someone else's example. The people you lead are watching how you think, act and treat others, and they'll carry some version of it into their own careers.

Mentorship isn't limited to the formal kind, either. A leader who explains their reasoning, admits a mistake or makes an introduction at the right moment is mentoring, whether they call it that or not. Those small moments often teach more than any formal program.

Ask yourself:

• Whose potential am I actively investing in right now?
• Would the people I lead say I take an active interest in their growth?
• What will they carry forward from watching me?

The best leaders don't just find great mentors. They become one.

Want to explore these ideas further? Learn more about my work on leadership, identity and conviction at www.theglennllopis.com.