What’s your next?

Anything built on a person will come down. You can not build things on a person and expect it to be powerful- TD Jakes.

Recently, renowned preacher TD Jakes announced he was stepping down to allow his youngest daughter and her husband to run his mega-church and associated ministries. It made me think about how we lead as leaders. How do we lead our personal lives? Are we living and leading for today or tomorrow? Does our ego seek to make us believe we are irreplaceable, or do we lead, preparing our family and our teams so they can one day go on without us? I love building and creating new pathways in my professional and community life.

Whatever I build, I hope it will continue and improve as new leaders and teams take over. I hope they build on the foundation set. So often, the thrill of being invincible or not forgotten makes leaders stay on far too long. Sometimes, they may not be officially in a role but are still hanging around. It feels great to feel needed. When that happens, growth does not occur, new ideas do not happen, and you do not create space for others to grow. When you make space for others to lead, that is the best example of true leadership.

Whatever GOD has for you as part of your "next" anxiously awaits you. Even outside of leadership, we often stay in places where our time there is up. If this is you, release the old and embrace the new. Please do not hold on to the past, we are not irreplaceable. The future meant for you patiently awaits your release from the old.