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We all work for someone. If you are self employed, well, you work for yourself. That is not really true, because you do not pay your bills, your customer does. So, in a broader sense, we all work for our customers. CEOs, executives, bosses, supervisors, and managers are for administrative convenience and adult supervision only.

Would you like to work for the following employer?

• One who is very, very careful about who they hire. They have such rigorous hiring practices that mere selection is like a badge of honor. The Indian Administrative Service has that reputation for hiring only the best.
• One who trains and develops their employees, so much that the employees are coveted by others. In other words, a company whose alumni can write their own checks when they become a free agent. General Electric has that reputation thanks to its leadership development center.
• One that will hold their employees accountable and fire them ruthlessly, but with compassion. I cannot think of any good example for this criteria. Most companies will fire low performers, but I don’t know anyone who combines accountability with ruthlessness and compassion.

If your organization does not fit all three criteria above, do not despair. Ask what will take for your organization to satisfy all the above criteria? What will it take for you to be a leader who can create such an organization? Use the answers to become better, for you may get your chance one day. When you get that chance, you need to be ready. Complaining about your organization will not get you anywhere, in fact you will regress in your leadership development.