The real test of a leader's ego is someone else's credit

Most leaders think they'd spot their own ego.

They picture the obvious version: shutting down dissent, dominating every meeting, "my way or the highway."

Most ego is quieter than that.

It shows up in a single moment. Someone on your team does something excellent, and it gets noticed: by the board, a client, the CEO.

Watch what you feel.

Where ego actually hides

A flicker of irritation when someone else gets the praise.

The urge to add, "That was my suggestion."

Presenting your team's work yourself, because you "know the context."

Keeping the client relationship close, because it's "easier."

None of these look like ego. They look like being helpful, efficient or thorough. That's exactly why they survive.

Visibility is power too

We usually think of power as decisions. But visibility is power as well: who presents, whose name is on the work, who gets into the room with the people who matter.

Leaders who hold it tightly get teams that do good work quietly, and eventually do it somewhere else.

Authority is meant to be a platform for others to rise, not a pedestal to protect.

Hold it lightly

Let the person who did the work present it, even when you'd present it better.

Name names. "The team did great work" sounds generous and makes no one visible. Say who did what.

Give away the relationships. Introduce your people to the board, the client and the partner, then step back.

Measure yourself by who's outgrowing you. A leader who holds power lightly ends up with a team full of people who could do their job.

Let her take the room

I once worked with a leader whose team had built something that was getting attention from senior leadership. The work was strong, and when the time came to present it to the executive team, the obvious choice seemed to be the leader.

They knew the strategy best. They could answer every question. They'd been involved from the beginning.

Part of them wanted to present it. It was their team's work, and a chance to be seen. But the person who had actually built the work was the person who should have been in the room.

So the leader asked her to present it instead.

She was nervous. It was the first time she'd presented directly to the executive team, and the leader knew there were parts of the story they could have explained more smoothly. The leader sat in the room and said almost nothing.

The questions came. She answered them. When something needed context, the leader added only what was necessary, then handed it back to her.

Afterwards, one of the executives asked the leader how they'd developed someone who could present at that level.

The honest answer was: "I gave her the room."

It changed more than that one presentation. She became more visible across the organisation, was invited into conversations she'd previously been outside of and started being recognised for the quality of her thinking rather than simply the work she delivered.

The leader hadn't lost any authority by stepping aside.

They'd multiplied it.