Larry Kaplan, a serial CEO and longtime Junto mentor, believes that leaders must focus on becoming irrelevant by building a resilient and redundant organization that can live without them.
It’s an important reminder not only for leaders but every one of us with ambition. That’s because becoming irrelevant leads to a rebirth of sorts: it enables us to become relevant to something new. It may be our next business, a career change, a promotion, a new team, or even a sabbatical.
The more we create systems and processes, the more we cross-train people, the more we invite others into relationships, the more we document our work, and the more we check our ego at the door, the more irrelevant we become. And the more relevant we become.
It’s a beautifully virtuous cycle.
