Musicians often regard the strongest musician as the leader of the group. That’s a terrible idea.
The best band leaders foster openness to create, are effective communicators, and actively remove creative and performance roadblocks from their teams.
It’s been proven, businesses often promote the strongest “musician.”
What should we do with those that excel in skill and ability? Elevate their status, recognize them for their skill, pay them a ton of money, and give them more complex projects. We don’t necessarily make them people managers.
How do we identify skilled people managers? Look for people who are skilled at collaborating, mentoring, teaching, or removing productivity roadblocks. Look for people who others trust.
Perhaps an anonymous survey given to a team:
“Who is the person in the group that you trust to have your back when the chips are down? Rank your choices from most trusted to least.”
“Who is the person in the group that you believe can handles the toughest challenges in the most adept and skillful way AND gets amazing outcomes? Rank your choices from most skilled to least.”
My bet… the strongest people leaders rank high on #1 and low on #2. The inverse would be true of strong individual contributors.