Honor Without Envy

Aeschylus, one of the three great Greek writers of tragedy said, "It is the character of very few men to honor without envy a friend who has prospered." Employees that know how to follow and support their managers, make good leaders. Without followers, contributors, supporters, and those willing to help when not receiving notoriety there are no leaders.

The famous orchestra conductor, Leonard Bernstein once was asked, "What is the hardest instrument to play?" Without hesitation Bernstein replied, "Second fiddle. I can always get plenty of first violinists, but to find one who plays second violin with as much enthusiasm or second French horn or second flute, now that's a problem. And yet of no one plays second, we have no harmony." So it is with any business, enthusiastic, self-motivated followers driven to accomplish great things make the organization successful.

An organization that is devoid of excellent leadership lacks strength and cannot move forward. Conversely, employees, who do not enthusiastically follow, and are envious of those who lead, can kill both progress and stability. Employees who genuinely subject their ego for the good of the organization are valuable and hard to find.

True employees choose to rejoice with those succeed rather than envy them move the company forward and their loyalty and contribution is incalculable. Once elevated to management positions these loyal employees continue to exhibit the same characteristic in their leadership role.

Followers support, understand, and work to insure the success of the leader's vision. Often the vision of the leader and the follower is in conflict and yet the exceptional follower will align themselves with the leader vision and work to make it happen. Followers can set up roadblocks or smooth the path by their work. A number of years ago I was fortunate to have a team of six district managers covering everything west of the Mississippi, including Illinois and Wisconsin. Each of these dedicated professionals were self- motivated, talented, creative and tireless in their efforts to grow the region business, which meant a 20% increase on sales for $20,000,000.

Tom Flynn, Lonny Worman, Cathi Scogin, Dick Delaney, Kathryn Armstrong, and Steve McCowan were model followers, providing energy, ideas, enthusiasm, and support to make the region, the AO West team, the number one team in the company. Each of the individuals could have been the leader of this group, however, it was my honor to be their region manager and receive accolades for the top region three years in a row. I was taught by first hand experience the truth of Aeschylus statement.

Tom, Lonny, Cathi, Dick, Kathryn, and Steve gave honor without envy and as their manager, I prospered. They choose to rejoice in the success of the team and each other rather than set up roadblocks and make it difficult to reach organization goals. Another great Greek, Solon, the first of the great philosophers who made Athens famous said, "He who has learned to obey will know how to command." When you have employees such as these treat them with the respect they deserve and value their contributions and watch your organization grow and prosper.