The corporate world is obsessed with “leadership training.” We send people to workshops to be “taught” how to delegate, held accountable in seminars, and instructed on how to cast a vision. We treat leadership as a set of skills to be drilled into people, like typing or spreadsheet formulas. And we’re often left wondering why it doesn’t stick, and why it feels so forced.
In The Leader Factory, I propose a radical alternative. I believe the Five Habits of Leadership are not skills to be implanted, but innate human potentials that emerge naturally when the environment is right.
Think of it like gardening. You don’t stand over a seed and command it to grow. You don’t try to teach it about photosynthesis. You focus on creating the right conditions—fertile soil, consistent water, ample sunlight—and growth happens as a natural consequence. The seed already contains everything it needs; your job is to cultivate the environment.
Leadership works the same way. The Seven Cornerstones of the Leader Factory (like Diagnosis, Collaboration, and Strategic Posture) are that fertile soil. When you, as a leader, focus on building a culture of clear communication, psychological safety, and shared purpose, you create a organizational “greenhouse.” In that environment, you will naturally begin to see individuals step up and embody leadership in their own unique ways, revealing themselves as:
- The Vision-Caster (providing direction and inspiration)
- The Effective Delegator (creating leverage and trust)
- The Accountable One (building ownership and reliability)
- The Smart Manager (engineering progress and efficiency)
- The Potential-Maximiser (unlocking limitlessness in others)
Your role, therefore, shifts from a “trainer” to a “talent spotter” and “culture creator.” Your job is not to manufacture these people according to a rigid blueprint, but to recognize, empower, and celebrate these habits as they uniquely emerge in each individual. This is the secret to building a self-sustaining, organic system of leadership.