As a child, my nephew, Cody, wanted to be like his Dad, my brother, Jim. I remember my brother telling the story of taking Cody to the mall one day. Cody was probably four or five at the time. Since Cody wanted to be like his Dad, they dressed alike that day. Both wearing similar colored casual pants and the same colored t-shirts. As they were walking through the mall Jim noticed Cody kept dropping back, walking behind his Dad. The first couple of times Jim slowed down and called Cody to catch up. Upon Cody’s dropping back one more time, Jim realized what Cody was doing. Cody was falling behind on purpose.

Not only was he dropping back, he was lining himself up directly behind his father and mimicking his father’s movements. Cody wanted to be like his Dad. Upon this realization, Jim began making other, out of the way, movements and gestures. He would run his left hand through his hair. Cody did the same. If Jim put one hand in his pocket, Cody did the same. If Jim looked left, Cody followed suit. Jim kept this up for several minutes, because the one other factor he had noticed is the smiles his son was bringing to all the people in the mall who had seen this attraction that morning.

They say imitation is the greatest form of flattery. Imitation is certainly one of our two God-given learning abilities. Children learn from their parents and others, how to walk, talk, adopt particular mannerisms and much more. Leadership styles are often acquired in the same fashion.

We tend to take on the leadership traits of the leaders we have served under. Often, it is that leader or leaders who showed interest in our personal professional development. Observation is often the best teacher. We tend to take on certain traits of those we follow. Observation lends to imitation as Cody demonstrated in the mall twenty some years ago. Imitation is one of our God-given ways of learning.

Unfortunately, there also those leaders who have adopted the traits of leaders that were not appealing as an employee. While the younger may not have liked or appreciated these leadership traits, she may adopt them, because it is what was modeled to her as a leader. This unhealthy leadership trait transfer can be problematic, for the leader, the employees, and the organization.

The bright side of this is that leadership qualities and traits can be changed and improved. Every leader should continuously strive to improve and graduate to a new level of leadership. I am a proponent of every leader developing new leaders. Regardless of your position in life, you are influencing someone. Therefore, you are a leader. Your goal should be to not teach someone to be like you, but to help him/her unearth his God-given skill and to develop to his or her greatest potential. Along the way, always encouraging each one to reach levels beyond your own leadership plane.

I believe one of the highest forms of compliment is when a leader’s protégé reaches heights beyond his mentor leader. Strive to be a growing leader who grows leaders.

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life