“Who do you think is a great leader?  Pick someone past or present.  Who do think has had a significant impact on people’s lives?  Why?  How did they do it?”

When I speak to university students I often ask these questions.  I give them some time to think about it.  Sometimes I will put them in pairs to discuss it.  Then I ask who would like to share their choice and their reasoning with everyone in the room.

Typically I get similar kinds of answers: Winston Churchill, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, the Dalai Lama, JFK, Desmond Tutu, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, Richard Branson, Jesus, etc.  The reasons for the choice of these leaders are wide a varied.  I have heard everything from the kind of innovation they created that changed how we live, to the courage they demonstrated in the face of adversity, to the compassion they demonstrated, the willingness to forgive, to how much money they made amongst many, many other reasons.

I then shift gears and ask them more personal questions:  “Who has had the greatest influence on your life?  Who made you, you?  Why?  How did they do that?”

These answers are very different: mother, father, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, grandparent, teacher, coach, etc.  Then we get to the secret sauce of this entire exercise.  How did they do that?

Wow, the personal stories I get to hear.  The sacrifices they made for the benefit of the student; the role model they were through how they lived their lives; how they persevered in the face of difficulties; how they encouraged their loved one to do the same.

The more stories I heard the more I realized the incredible influence these people had on their loved ones were all for the same 2 reasons.  There were 2 fundamentals necessary to create the powerful impact in the lives of these students.

If we can agree that leadership is really all about influencing people, then I would argue that what I discovered in the stories of these students are really the 2 fundamentals of great leadership.  So, what are the 2 things I discovered in every student’s story that caused the enormous influence this person had in their life?

1. They cared for them.
2. They helped them be better.

Story after heart-warming story I have heard about how people’s lives are most influenced by those who demonstrated the greatest amount of love, and helped these people to be better – to see they could be  more than they thought they could be.

“She believed in me when I was lost and afraid and helped me to discover who I could be.”  “He showed me what it meant to love sacrificially, and the power of perseverance when times are tough.”  “She saw who I was when I couldn’t see it.”  “He never gave up on me.”

Think of your own life.  Who has had the greatest influence on you?  Why?  I guarantee when you get down to the essentials you will discover it all comes down to how they cared about you and how they helped you to be better.

In light of this, I believe every leader who wants to create a significant positive influence needs to care about people and help them be better.  People will not follow a leader they don’t believe cares for them.  Sure, they may go through the motions.  They may follow the command and control leadership exerted by that kind of leader, but you won’t get their best.

Organizations that are able to harness the best in their people are the ones who will lead their industries.  You get the best out of people when they know they are cared for and when you actually help them discover and develop their best.

Leadership is simply helping people be better.  When your people are better your whole organization is better.  It’s simple, but it’s not easy.  There are myriad tactics, strategies and styles for doing this, but all great leadership comes down to this:

1. Care for your people. 2. Help them be better.

And you can choose to do that.