Why Seeing Potential Is the Real Job of Leadership

Thirty years of working alongside this industry has taught me something about who actually gets to the top of it, and it's rarely the person who worked hardest in isolation.

It's not the most qualified person on paper who moves fastest through leadership. It's the person someone else decided to back, often before they'd proven a thing. I think about every leader I admire and there's always a name behind the name, someone who did more than believe in them and actually showed them the way.

This week's article gets into what that looks like in practice, the difference between encouraging someone and actually building them a path, and why most leaders think they're doing the second when they're only doing the first.

Encouragement is easy. Building the path is what actually moves people.

Most managers think they're developing their people because they say the right things. "Good job." "You've got real potential." "You should think about where you want to take this." That's encouragement, and it's certainly important, but on its own it stops at words. Nobody moves because of what they were told. They move because a door opened that they could actually walk through.

The real work of a leader who sees potential in someone is not just telling them they could do it. It's helping them find the way there. Identifying the role they haven't thought to look at yet. Making the introduction to the person who can open the next door. Putting their name forward for something they wouldn't have applied for on their own, and then walking some of that path alongside them rather than just pointing at it from a distance.

That's the distinction I keep coming back to. Encouragement tells someone they could. Building the path shows them how, and then helps them take the first step.

Phillipa Fuller shared her personal experience on the podcast this week. She spent years moving through the industry, told "no" more than once, before her then CEO, Angela Sanders, saw something in her, believed in her, and encouraged her to put her name forward for something she wouldn't have had the confidence to apply for on her own. Thirteen years and five clubs later, Phillipa is now Secretary Manager of Club Quirindi. Her former leader is still her mentor and, more importantly, a good friend. When I asked Phillipa what changed the trajectory of her career, she didn't talk about a training course or a qualification. She talked about one person who didn't just believe in her, but helped her see a version of her own career she couldn't yet see herself.

Why this matters more in an industry that runs on trust

Clubs and hospitality venues aren't run on credentials the way some industries are. Boards back people. Communities back people. And when it comes to who moves into senior leadership, that backing has historically gone to men more often than women. Not because women are less capable, but because fewer people have taken the time to actually build them a way through, and because women inherently tend to wait until they can tick every box on a job description before they apply. Men apply having ticked two or three and figure they'll learn the rest along the way.

That's not a confidence problem you fix with a pep talk. It's a pathway problem. Someone above them has to be willing to say, I know she doesn't tick every box, and here's how we close that gap, rather than leaving her to work it out alone.

This is exactly why networks like the Club Managers Association matter. It's not just about knowing people. It's about creating enough relationships that when a senior role opens up, there's more than one name in someone's head, and at least one of those names belongs to a woman who's been doing the work without anyone showing her the next step yet.

The debt only gets repaid forward

You can never really repay the person who helped you find your path. Angela didn't back Phillipa so that Phillipa would owe her something. She helped her because someone had once done the same for her, years before that, in a room Phillipa will never see.

That's how this actually works. The debt doesn't run backward. It runs forward, to whoever comes next.

Phillipa acknowledged that it's been hard being told no more than once, but it was likely even harder for Angela, years before her. And every time a woman breaks through in this industry, it gets a little easier for the next one. That's how change in male-dominated industries actually happens, one guided career at a time, each person clearing a little more of the way so the next person has less ground to cover alone.

If you're leading a team, a venue, a club right now, you already know who your Phillipa is. She's the one doing strong work and underselling it. He's the one who could run this place in five years but hasn't put his hand up because nobody's shown him what that path would even look like. Seeing that potential is the easy part. The harder part is building the way there. Identifying the opportunity before they see it themselves. Making the introduction. Putting your name behind theirs. Walking some of the pathway with them rather than leaving them to find it alone.

Find out who's sitting there right now, ticking two boxes out of ten, waiting for someone to show them the other eight aren't the point. Then be the one who shows them.

To catch this week's full podcast episode, visit the link --> https://youtu.be/HowktRMNggA