Passing It On: Growing Your Future Leaders (33 page)

You never outgrow mentors. You must always be under somebody. The day you think that you do not need a mentor, you are a threat
to humanity. I submit to my mentors quickly. Whenever I am in the presence of anyone who has great wisdom, I am a professional
questioner. When I first met Nelson Mandela, I met history. I do not have those moments often in my life. I did not want to
spend my limited time with him telling him who I was, where I am from, and what I was doing. As far as I was concerned, I
had just met a father and I was a child.

I started asking questions because I had to learn a lot in a short time. I do not have to take time to talk about me because
I already know about me. My questions gave me the power to draw on his wisdom and learn from him. I was his student, however
briefly, and I submitted to his instruction.

Some people who sign up for my mentoring program are seventy-five
years old. They are still learning, and they realize that I have something they need. Age is not an issue in mentoring. Peter
was older than Jesus. The mentor already has achieved a level of success and effectiveness regardless of age. Mentors reap
rewards for fulfilling their purpose, not for their years. The mentee is the one who needs the development, the cultivation.

Do not abuse, misuse, ignore, or devalue the privileges extended by the mentor and squander opportunities to learn. Respect,
cherish, and value the relationship. You will be the beneficiary.

The mentor chooses, but the mentee pursues.

The mentee must submit to the mentor’s guidance, ask questions, and cherish the relationship.

T
HE PEOPLE YOU
brought along are taking over. Your successor is ready. Learn to say, “I trained her—now look how far she has come,” “I was
his mentor. Isn’t he great?” or “I taught them. I am so proud of their accomplishments.” Then sit back and let them take the
enterprise to a higher plane than you were able to do in your allotted time.

When somebody you mentored is doing well, tell people, “That is my boy!” That individual’s success is your success. That is
your mentee, your protégé.

God felt the same way about His prototype, as noted several times in the gospels. He let people know that was His Son.

Matthew 3:17
And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

God took the credit. Are you ready to take the credit for mentoring the emerging leaders around you? If you have succeeded
in producing successful leaders and chosen your successor, letting go is hard, but you can do it if you realize the successor
is the measure of your success.

Good leaders claim the credit for their successor’s success and rejoice in the success of others. If you have done your job
as a leader, your successor
or successors will go on to have many successes. You can take comfort in and take credit for much of their success. A leader
glories in the successes of others. True leaders need not be afraid of their followers’ gifts and success. They have no reason
to be jealous or resentful. After all, they nurtured those gifts and helped produce the leaders we see today.

Leadership is measured by the success of your successor. That is how you test yourself. Look at the leaders you produced.

Mentors want the world to discover their protégés and provide them with opportunities to show their true capabilities. Mentors
even set up opportunities for people to test their gifts. You see examples in which Moses gave Joshua assignments. He told
Joshua to go fight a war, and he rejoiced in his victory.

Exodus 17:9
Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill
with the staff of God in my hands.”

In a similar fashion, Jesus provided opportunities for His students to test their abilities, and He was very excited when
the disciples succeeded. A true leader does what Jesus did. He sent His followers out to try some things and was pleased when
they reported on what they achieved.

Mark 6:7
Calling the Twelve to him, he sent them out two by two and gave them authority over evil spirits.

Jesus had modeled the behaviors and the type of ministry He expected of them. Then the Teacher let them loose to practice.
He did not just lecture or preach and expect them to go out on their own with no trial period. He showed them and then gave
them field experience.

We can recall that Jesus even said He expected those who had faith in Him not only to do what He had been doing, but also
to do “greater things than these” when He left (see John 14:11–13).

Secure leaders deliberately choose people who have the potential to be better than they are. Do not be afraid of people who
are stronger than you. Do not be afraid of your weaknesses. Always hire people who are smarter than you because they make
you look good. Apply this principle to your personal life. Marry someone who is smarter than you are. Your spouse will make
you look good. If your children surpass your success, it is to your credit.

“A leader glories in the successes of others.”

Secure leaders provide opportunity for others to find and fulfill their Godgiven purpose and reach their greatest potential.
If I stand to speak before ten thousand people and someone I mentor is with me, I invite her to speak for five minutes or
so. She might say, “You are crazy! I can’t speak in front of all these people.” But I insist that the crowd is waiting for
her. “How are you going to learn to speak to thousands of people if you never do it? Use my credibility and practice it now.”
This is an opportunity to colead. I let her feel everything I feel—the anxiety, the butterflies, the sense of how to relate
to a crowd. This leader in training can experience that whole environment. Those five minutes can be worth more than ten weeks’
classroom study because instead of hearing me lecture about it, the individual experiences it.

Mentorship programs must be more than instruction. They should be experiential. Mentoring differs from teaching or instruction,
as I said previously, because teaching may give you information, but it does not model the lesson. Mentoring is modeling in
order to train by experiential relationships. Mentoring has more to do with relationships than it does instruction.

There is room at the top for everyone. A mentor believes his mentee should be better than he is. A mentor works on making
others better. Moses was not upset when Joshua told him people were trying to prophesy as he did. Moses wished for all of
them to prophesy—the whole camp. This is my leadership philosophy, that the original leadership model was based on the fundamental
principle that we should not focus on building an organization with a leader but rather on building an organization of leaders.
It is my desire as president of our organization and chief executive officer of our international company that all discover,
develop, cultivate, and manifest the full potential of their leadership gifts.

This same idea excited Moses. He basically said, “I wish all of them were prophesying. Everybody is in charge. I wish everybody
were doing what I am doing. What a job!”

That means Moses did not think he needed followers to be a leader. Moses probably measured his leadership by the fact that
he was becoming unnecessary. He would not need to prophesy if others could hear God for themselves. That is how Moses thought.
He ended his admonition to Joshua saying he wished the Lord would put His spirit on the others the way He had put it on Moses.

The average leader does not think that way. Ordinary leaders wish that no one will come along who has what they have so they
can always be in charge. They forget that a true leader works himself out of a job. They do not understand that a true leader
desires to become unnecessary.

Tell a young person who pursues you that you are going to make them a mentoring project. “Before I leave or die, I am going
to teach you everything I know.” When that individual becomes successful, he or she will tell everybody that you were responsible.
Take the credit.

At a conference recently, I introduced Jerome Edmondson, a young man I had mentored. He had left his home and spent a whole
year with me. He and his wife invested a great deal of money in this mentoring experience. Jerome has traveled with me to
Africa, Europe, and South Africa, as well as all over the United States and the Caribbean.

After that year, this fellow is better than I am. He told me that he is the first black man to be a franchise owner of a particular
restaurant chain. Jerome recently released a book that became a best seller. I was able to help with that. Not too long ago,
he showed me a letter saying that he would be receiving a grant for one million dollars. My joy is in his success. He is an
associate in my environment. He is an example of how to train people to become better than you.

My greatest joy is when my mentee becomes greater than I am. This is why I work so hard. My greatest legacy is in the people
who exceeded me. When my mentee becomes great and powerful, I can move on to something greater in this life or go on to my
reward in heaven. I want to be just like my mentor, Jesus Christ.

Greater works shall you do. That is what mentoring is all about. It is about making you better, greater, more influential,
and more powerful. It is about helping you to exceed your own expectations.

I would love to take the credit for that.

Make others greater and take the credit.

Good leaders rejoice in the success of others.

M
Y FIRST MENTOR
was my father. He taught me how to love work as he provided for all of his eleven children. He demonstrated the manhood necessary
to lead a home both spiritually and emotionally. He mentored me by letting me observe him as he prepared sermons. I watched
him minister publicly to crowds. From my early teens, I watched how he dealt with stress. He even taught me how to be married
to a woman, setting an example as he was married to my mother for fifty years until her death. For these and other reasons,
he was my most important mentor as a man.

My mother was my second mentor. I was able to observe how she had a hunger for the word of God. My mother taught me how to
read the Bible. My father taught me how to preach the Bible, but my mother taught me how to read it. She taught me how to
love people. I do not think I ever have seen anyone who loved the poor as much as my mother did. While raising eleven children,
she would practically take food off our table and give it to poor people. She mentored me in caring for people who are less
fortunate.

Mother also mentored me in the act of prayer. I used to hear and watch her pray, even though she did not know I was observing
her. This is true mentoring—when people can see the spiritual act of a person. Her example left a great mark on my life, and
I pray daily as she did.

In addition to this great experience of my parents, I had two powerful
mentors in college at Oral Roberts University. One was a professor in the school of theology who taught a class in New Testament
studies, Dr. Jerry Horner. I took that class and instantly realized this man knew so much that I wanted to learn. I submitted
myself to him. Today Dr. Horner is on my board of trustees and still is one of my chief mentors. He has been with me for more
than thirty-five years. I have been able to observe him closely during the years, visit his home, and see his family. Jerry
sleeps in my home every time he comes to the Bahamas to speak at one of our conferences. It is important to note that he is
white, and I am of African descent. The people I mentor come from many different ethnic groups.

“Just as I received the gift of mentorship, I have a duty to pass it on.”

Another great mentor of mine, Oral Roberts, died recently. I vividly recall one time I was on a television show as a student.
As soon as I saw those cameras, I began to shake visibly as he was interviewing me. I was petrified because I had never been
on television before. This commanding orator who had preached before thousands in live appearances and to the world through
the airwaves acted instinctively to calm my fears. With one hand holding the microphone, he reached over with the other one
and gently patted my knee as he was talking to me. His touch melted all the fear. He knew what he was doing. He was calming
a frightened mentee, and I never forgot that. It has been more than thirty-five years since that day, but I can still remember
the touch. The affirming power of a mentor’s touch will last you a lifetime.

When I first came back to the Bahamas in 1980 after college and graduate school, I began this ministry. Some people said I
was a cult. They would talk negatively about me on the radio and television, and ministers used to preach against me. I used
to be sermon material. One of the highest compliments they ever paid me was, “He thinks he is Oral Roberts.” That was flattery.
At least I was not associated with some preacher who was not doing anything or who was misleading people. I was glad to be
associated with somebody who was doing something.

Still another of my mentors, Dr. Fuchsia Pickett, taught me how to have a zeal for the things of God. She taught me how to
pursue God with a passion,
how to fast, and how to sacrifice for greatness. She also affirmed me in my desire to train leaders. She actually told me
I should proceed with my global passion for developing leaders in Third-World countries.

As I matured as a leader, I had access to all of these people. I could call them at any time. They could rebuke me, correct
me, or instruct me. Many times they would caution me in certain areas of my life. That was and still is important to me. I
am still being mentored, even though I mentor thousands of people at a distance and hundreds of people directly.