By: Jordan Quertermous and Jim Davis
Effective leadership is more than just noise; it’s navigation. It's an individualized route to a shared destination.
Imagine handing someone your GPS after a long trip and saying, "Just follow this; it worked for me." While well-intentioned, it's a gesture that reveals two quiet, counterproductive assumptions: that your starting points are the same, and that you share the same destination. Without knowing where someone begins or where they truly want to go, offering a step-by-step guide is not just unhelpful, but it can send people on a disappointing and misguided journey. This is the trap leaders, coaches and mentors fall into when they mistake their personal success story for a universal template.
To individualize routes toward a shared destination, leaders must resist the urge to copy/paste the “script” for “success.” Instead, they should begin by acknowledging the starting place of the people they hope to lead. Then, with humility and curiosity, they should ask, "Where are we heading, together?"
Meet Them Where They Are
In his book Wait, What?, Jim Ryan champions the power of clarifying questions, especially the kind that slow down assumptions. Curiosity and humility create space for dialogue, discovery and empathy. In the realm of leadership and performance development, Wait, What? is another way of saying: Pause. Notice. Get on the same page. And locate the other person’s starting point.
It is impossible to chart a progression if you don’t know the coordinates. Pretending everyone is on the same path is not leadership, it’s fiction. To build an individualized route, the first step is to meet people where they are, not where you wish they were (or where you were when you started). This involves listening for their current motivations, barriers, habits, fears and ambitions. And this also means recognizing that their starting point is not a deficiency; it is a reality. Without honoring that reality, no route will be relevant, and no path can be sustainably walked.
The second essential input is the destination. Can we each agree on the coordinates of where we want to go? A starting point without a destination is nothing more than a pin on the map. Knowing where to start is important, but uncovering an agreed upon destination is what gives the journey meaning. The destination doesn’t have to be the company’s grand vision or north star. It just needs to be an agreed upon goal that actually matters to the person you’re leading. Alignment with the broader mission and the team’s goals is important, but it can’t be overbearing. The larger narrative should always be visible, because when people see how their next step contributes to something bigger, they’re more likely to stay engaged—even when the path is winding or unclear.
But the journey should never feel oppressive. Once aligned, a reasonable route is possible. In doing so, recognize that progress isn’t always about the summit; sometimes it’s about reaching the next safe ridge. Destinations can and should evolve, and reassessing them along the journey is both wise and necessary. After reflecting and realigning, each new stop becomes another starting point, and the journey continues. Effective leadership should guide both the person and the organization toward the destination, and remind that progress of one does not have to come at the expense of the other.
Along the way, note that shorter routes with well-defined checkpoints can reduce, overwhelm and increase clarity. They allow for celebration of progress and recalibration of direction. In practical terms, this might mean setting three-month milestones instead of three-year goals, or focusing on skill mastery before title promotion.
Only when both the starting point and an agreed upon destination are known can we truly turn discovery into direction.
Build the Route Together
Knowing where you start and where you’re headed matters, but without a clear route with checkpoints along the way you’re bound to get lost. People don’t get lost on Everest because it’s tall. They get lost because, when the going gets tough, there aren’t always signs telling them where to step next. The same applies to leadership. With support, vision and checkpoints along the way, steps that used to feel like wandering begin to feel like progress.
The route, then, is not something a leader can dictate alone; it is something co-created. When leaders understand individualized starting points and aim toward a similar destination, route-building becomes more about companionship than instruction. It also becomes inherently adaptive. Tools, timelines and tactics can shift. Destinations can and should evolve, and reassessing them along the journey is both wise and necessary. What stays consistent is the intention behind the journey.
A common leadership misstep is assuming that everyone wants to end up where you are, or that the way you got there is replicable. This mindset reduces leadership to replication rather than transformation. It also subtly undermines the agency of others by collapsing the complexity of their journey into a single, simplified narrative.
In practice, individualized route-building might require:
The route is ever-changing, and the definition of progress is fluid. Progress isn’t always about the summit; sometimes it’s just about reaching the next safe ridge. There will be wrong turns along the way. Like your GPS, great leaders have the ability to stay calm in the chaos and re-route directions to the next step. Each new stop, along with providing a moment for reflection and realignment, becomes another starting point.
The Leader as Navigator, Not Driver
The leader’s job isn’t to drive, it’s to navigate. This means tracking whether people are still on the path they helped build, helping them course-correct when necessary and sometimes gently pointing out when the destination itself may need reexamination. This approach fosters both accountability and autonomy. It treats people not as passengers, but as drivers who are learning to chart their own course with guidance.
Moreover, leaders who individualize development don't just optimize performance; they cultivate trust. When people feel significant and valued, they're far more willing to stretch, stumble and persist. They are more likely to raise their hand and say, "I’m lost," knowing they won’t be judged, just redirected. That trust fuels action. When a person feels trusted by their leader, they trust their leader, and they’re more willing to continue down the path.
When leaders encourage people to update their maps with accurate, affirming and dynamic inputs, they are helping recalibrate the inner compass. This is both strategic and authentically human. It allows people to move through life and work with steadiness, even amid uncertainty. And steadiness, not perfection, is what sustains high performance over time.
Moving Forward
Intentional development begins with curiosity, not control. It honors the individuality of the traveler while aiming for a shared horizon. Whether you're a coach, a teacher, a manager or a mentor, the challenge is not to replicate your route but to equip others to build theirs. We’re looking for creative, future leaders, not compliant cogs in a cold machine.
So next time you're tempted to say, "Here's what worked for me." Pause. Instead, ask, "Where are you now? Where do you want to go next? How can I help you get there?"
Outcomes matter. The destination matters. People matter. Best outcomes are defined not only by where we end up, but who we become along the way.