Great Leaders Identify Hidden Potential
Oct 23, 2026
This week, I had one of those moments where someone came back into my life and reminded me of the impact I had on them.
More than 20 years ago, I gave an amazing young woman her first television reporting job at my Pennsylvania PBS station. Nicole was a former Miss Pennsylvania, beautiful inside and out. She had a presence that was hard to miss. But what caught my attention wasn't just her poise or personality. I saw potential.
I believed she could become an exceptional journalist, and I was determined to help her get there. I invested my time, shared every ounce of experience I could, and helped her strengthen her writing and storytelling. I knew she had big things ahead of her, even as she was still developing the skills to get there.
When Nicole left our station, she went straight to a CBS-owned station in Philadelphia. She spent the next 10 years anchoring the morning news, earning incredible ratings and becoming a star in a highly competitive market.
I was so incredibly proud of her. But the most meaningful part of this story didn't happen when she became successful. It happened this week.
Twenty years after we worked together, Nicole reached out to ask if I would recommend her for an opportunity to teach journalism at the college level. As we talked, she shared how much my belief in her had fueled her. And now, she wants to invest in others to help the next generation of journalists discover what they're capable of becoming.
The investment I made in Nicole years ago is now influencing how she wants to invest in others.
That's multiplication. And it's one of the most powerful legacies a leader can leave. Who’s your Nicole?
Great Leaders Look Beyond What People Can Do Today
It's easy to recognize talent when someone is already performing at a high level. The harder and often more important work is recognizing potential while it's still developing.
Sometimes it shows up in a curious question, a willingness to try something difficult, a fresh perspective, or the way someone responds when a project doesn't go as planned.
Great leaders pay attention to those clues. They look beyond today's performance and ask, what could this person become with the right encouragement, experience, and opportunity?
Here are five ways to recognize and develop the potential in the people you lead.
1. Look for clues, not just credentials.
Pay attention to what energizes people, how they approach problems, what questions they ask, and where they show unusual curiosity. Someone who isn't the strongest presenter in the room might be an exceptional strategist. A quiet team member might have a gift for listening and building trust. An employee who challenges the way things have always been done might have the makings of an innovator.
Action: Identify one person on your team whose potential you may be overlooking. What do they do especially well? When do they seem most engaged? What strengths might be hiding beneath their current job description? Write down two specific observations you can share with them.
2. Tell people what you see in them.
Don't assume people know you believe in them. And don't wait until their annual review to say it.
General praise such as "You're doing a great job" feels good, but specific feedback helps people understand what makes them valuable. Tell someone, "The way you connected those two ideas helped us see the problem differently," or "You have a gift for making complicated information understandable. I want to help you develop that."
Your words can help people recognize strengths they haven't learned to name for themselves.
Action: This week, tell one person what you see in them that they may not fully recognize in themselves. Be specific. Describe the behavior, explain why it matters, and tell them where you think that strength could take them.
3. Invest your experience, not just your encouragement.
Believing in people is important. Giving them the tools to grow is what turns belief into development.
Nicole didn't become a stronger storyteller simply because I encouraged her. We worked together. I coached her writing, challenged her thinking, shared what I had learned, and helped her refine her craft. Encouragement opened the door, but practice, detailed feedback, and experience helped her walk through it.
I can hear you saying, “BUT I DON’T HAVE TIME.” I promise if you make the time, you’ll want to do it again and again and again. It has always been one of the most fulfilling parts of leadership for me.
Action: Choose one skill a team member needs to strengthen. Schedule 30 minutes to work on it together. Remember to say, “I believe in you and know with effort you can master this.” Review a presentation, practice a difficult conversation, examine a recent decision, or talk through how to approach a more complex assignment. Make development part of the work, not another item on someone's to-do list.
4. Give people opportunities before they feel completely ready.
If you wait until someone has mastered every skill before giving them a stretch assignment, you may wait forever. Growth often happens when people are trusted with something just beyond their current comfort zone with enough support to help them succeed.
Action: Identify one person who is ready for a stretch opportunity. What responsibility could you give them in the next 30 days? Explain why you chose them, define what success looks like, and agree on how you'll support them along the way.
5. Help people see a future beyond their current position.
One of the most important questions a leader can ask is, "What do you want to be able to do a year from now that you can't do today?"
That question shifts the conversation from performance alone to possibility.
Action: In your next one-on-one conversation, ask a team member what they want to learn, what responsibility they'd like to take on, and what kind of work they hope to be doing in the future. Listen without immediately explaining why their ideas will or won't work. Then identify one practical step you can help them take.
You're Never Too Busy to Invest in People
I know how easy it is to get consumed by the demands of leadership. There are budgets to manage, deadlines to meet, decisions to make, and problems that seem to multiply overnight. You can fill every minute of your calendar and still feel as if you're never finished with your to-do list.
But developing people isn't an interruption to your job. It's one of your most important jobs.
The person you encourage may one day become the leader who sees potential in someone else. That's what happened with Nicole. Her success was wonderful to witness, but hearing that she now wants to help others discover their own potential was my real reward.
The ultimate measure of leadership isn't how many people depend on you. It's how many people become more capable because of you and how many of them go on to develop others.