The Danger of Being Indispensable
Aug 24, 2026
For a long time, I thought being needed was evidence of good leadership.
Then I was “relieved of my duties”. Over the next 90 days, the school ran just fine without me.
In fact, it had its best year ever academically!
That's when I learned an important lesson:
Being indispensable can feel like leadership while actually preventing leadership capacity from developing.
Our job isn't to become the answer to every problem.
It's to develop people and systems capable of producing results without our constant intervention.
Leadership question:
Where have you accidentally made yourself indispensable?
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