I Want to Raise Many 'Next Me's'

The strongest line about the future in our youngest executive's essay: "I want to raise the next me — not one, but many." Raising a single successor is common talk; "many" is what sets him apart. One successor is chair-thinking — who inherits my seat.

His is seed-thinking: plant the experience that transformed him — being faced in earnest at his lowest — into as many people as possible. There is only one chair, but seeds are limitless. A company's growth, I believe, ultimately depends on how many people-raisers it has.

A company with ten brilliant people grows by addition; a company with three genuine mentors grows by multiplication. I raised him in earnest; now he is turning to raise others. The multiplication has begun. Are you being raised, or raising? Both would be best.

What do you work for?