When Being Indispensable Is Not A Compliment
There was a time in my leadership journey when I took quiet pride in being essential. If I stepped away and things got messy, I noticed. If decisions stalled without me, I noticed. If people came to me afterward saying, “We needed you,” I definitely noticed. And if I am being honest, part of me liked it. It felt like proof that what I was doing mattered. Proof that I was making an impact. Proof that the organization was stronger because I was there. At least that is how I interpreted it at the time. Over the years, though, I began to notice something that made me uncomfortable. The more things depended on me, the more limited they actually were. Progress slowed when my attention was elsewhere. Growth was constrained by my availability. Improvement only happened when I personally pushed it forward. What I once viewed as influence began to look more like bottleneck. That realization forced me to reconsider something I had never really questioned before. What does it actually mean ...