As a leader, I don’t want to change people.
- Dec 17, 2025
- 1 min read
As a leader, I don’t want to change people. I have heard this sentence in one of the last peer consulting sessions this week. It made me think …
That might sound strange - isn’t leadership about helping others grow, improve, or even “become better versions of themselves”?
Maybe. But here’s what I’ve learned: when we try to change people, we often start from the assumption that something about them is wrong. And that’s not leadership - that’s control.
What I want as a leader is to create space where people can understand themselves better, use their strengths fully, and grow in the direction they choose. My role isn’t to shape them into what I think they should be - it’s to provide clarity, feedback, and trust so they can become who they already are, at their best.
When leaders stop trying to change people and start focusing on understanding them, something powerful happens: Motivation replaces compliance, curiosity replaces defensiveness, growth becomes self-driven, not leader-driven.
Because people don’t need to be changed. They need to be seen, trusted, and challenged with respect.
What do you think, can leadership be about less “changing” and more creating the right conditions for people to flourish?