The Goal of a Leader is to Find His/Her Replacement

The first week of my internship with Church Assistance Ministries (CAM) was been great. My supervisor, Steve Elliott has mentored and coached me for three years. I’m grateful to now be under his supervision as we embark on working together to advance CAM’s work to equip church leaders and church planters across the United States and around the world.

When meeting with Steve this past week, he revealed:

My main responsibly as CAM’s CEO is to find my replacement.

This is a great thought for anyone in a significant leadership position to focus on. I might be able to serve CAM by helping Steve find his replacement. As a new person working with CAM, I offer a fresh perspective. I will be able to see the strengths of the organization and compliment those strengths. And I will conversely see the weaknesses of the organization and where a potential leader might be able to fill those roles. Then you need to make sure a CEO is groomed to keep those strengths strong and also pray and hope that CEO will improve the weaknesses. I’m sure finding a new leader for a church ministry is not easy to do. You have to look at lots of candidates and evaluate their skill set, their character, and their overall ability to keep the good work of CAM going for years to come.

With that said, going forward with my own ministry in life, I need to always realize that one of my main responsibilities as a leader is to find my replacement. Maybe I will start by looking for creative ways to find my replacement as an intern after my service for CAM is over.

Question: What do you believe is the mail goal of a leader?