A long, long time ago, a friend and I were discussing an exec we both knew. I thought he was good at his job. My friend disagreed.
“He’s effective, but he isn’t that great a leader. He isn’t even Director material”, he said. “Nobody ever follows him, or even tries. Have you ever heard people say that they want to work for him in particular? Not a job he has - but him?”
He was right. I recognized as effective and successful as this person was, no one ever followed him to his next job or role - even when the roles he might have on his team were objectively pretty good. It said both a lot about how he treated and inspired people, but also a little about what people thought about his judgement and ability to get things done after working closely with him.
Over time, I’ve found that to be a great way to objectively see how a leader might be doing. Are they a talent magnet? Do great people want to work with them because they enjoyed it so much? Do they tell their friends about that person? You see this in great leadership groups as well - over time they pull great people they’ve worked with into new great jobs.
It’s not a static marker btw - I’ve seen people evolve in both directions i.e. go from being a weak magnet of talent (or not a magnet at all) into a strong one as they get better on some dimension, or go in the other direction and stop being someone that pulls people, but that evolution can take a while.
I’ve always taken comfort that whenever I’ve taken on a new role, people from former teams generally reach out to ask if there’s something that might be a fit for them. It at least tells me I’m directionally ok, even though I think I have a lot to improve on? Also, there are people I know I would follow in a heartbeat.
How about you? Are there people you know you’d always follow or check with?