As a former vice president of a Fortune 500 company, and as a current professional leadership trainer, I can say with some authority that empowering their employees is one of the scariest challenges new leaders face. Why? Well, one reason is that no one wants to be the next Wally Pipp.
Wally Who?
Wally Pipp played first base for the New York Yankees from 1915 to 1925. In his fifteen-year major league career, the left-hander drove in 997 runs, had more than 90 RBIs in six separate seasons, and played on a Yankee team that won three straight pennants. During his decade in New York, Pipp played in more games than any other Yankee.
Then one June day in 1925, Pipp had a headache. He asked Yankee manager Miller Huggins if he could sit out that day’s game. Huggins agreed and inserted a young rookie into the lineup to replace Pipp. The rookie’s name was Lou Gehrig. And the rest is baseball legend.
Gehrig went on to play in 2,130 straight games at first base for the Yankees. Although his headache went away, Pipp had lost his job forever to the newcomer. He was shipped off to the Cincinnati Reds, where he finished his career.
Not many leaders know the Wally Pipp story, but countless worry that they might face a similar fate. And that’s why empowering employees is such a personal challenge for them. What if, they wonder, they give some of their power to their employees and never get it back?
A basic function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.” ~Ralph Nader
Empowering workers means freely giving away your authority. And that’s the scary part. It involves sharing the influence that comes with leadership, and that might require facing up to personal insecurities about losing power. But once you abandon your concerns about becoming the Wally Pipp of your organization, you’ll recognize that empowering others is a critical step toward becoming a great leader.
Are you leading in fear or in faith? Are you concerned with your own survival to the point of distraction? How well are you doing at looking at the bigger picture and empowering your team members? Is this something that you struggle with, especially in current economic times?
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George Brymer is author of Vital Integrities and the creator of The Leading from the Heart Workshop®.
He can be reached at [email protected]
Excellent article, George. I love the comparison to Wally. This is a very real fear – and challenge – for so many. Nice job addressing it!!
Organizations are having to give away their IP (open sourcing) and face insecurities around losing the innovations that make them leaders by providing them to the public domain. In this ever more prominent model, organizations are challenged to innovate more.
Perhaps leaders could learn from this organizational model.
Leaders could be challenged to innovate and rather than lead in the way that that they traditionally have.
Poor Wally is as elusive in history as his glasses wearing, striped sweatered namesake. But Lou Gehrig would have been great regardless of whether or not Wally ever had a headache. And poor Lou, he would be even less noteworthy if not for this. So, the leader is closer to a legacy by enabling and empowering.