“Greater than Yourself”, is a great principle principle to have but I’m not convinced it can be achieved in isolation, unless you feel critical mass can be achieved.
Helping others to achieve their potential is something I’ve tried to apply in my working life, to varying degrees of success. The Harvard Business article “Your Greater-Than-Yourself Project” defines a concept to developing others and has certainly focused my mind on where I and others have done it well or poorly.
Whether you are an executive, team leader or junior in a team I think it is invaluable advise – I’m just not sure how easy it is to be completely selfless, especially when times are hard. A nice principle to aspire to.
The article states that the mentor should expect nothing in return, I have always believed that growing a network of successful people means that I can be more successful, so maybe I’m not entirely selfless.
References:
http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/cs/2009/04/the_secret_of_great_mentors.html
