Leadership is never neutral. You are either adding value to your team members, or you are draining it from them. There is no middle ground. True legacy is not just on the score card or the quarterly numbers but on people.

And the irony is that when you have the mind of building people, outstanding results are inevitable. I have never seen any leader who is people-centred and lacks results. The true test of leadership is having a positive influence on the people you lead. Certain productive events in their lives and careers must be traceable to your efforts and activities.

Your coaching, mentoring and training must bring visible changes to them. If people work with you for two or three years and come out the same way they went in, then you have only supervised them, you have not led them. The leaders we remember most are the ones who saw something in us which we didn’t see in ourselves. If you can’t point to specific moments where your involvement made a difference: perhaps a skill they developed, a confidence they gained, and/or a breakthrough they achieved, then you’re occupying a leadership position without actually leading.

As CEO of PepsiCo, Indra Nooyi helped each of her senior executives to become better versions of themselves. She famously wrote letters to their parents, thanking them for raising such talented children. She understood that people bring the totality of themselves to work. She invested in their development not just as executives but as human beings. She regularly met with them to understand their career aspirations and personal goals, then actively created opportunities aligned with those ambitions.

One of her direct reports once shared how Nooyi spent two hours helping her think through a career decision that would have meant leaving PepsiCo. That’s leadership! She valued the person’s growth more than her own convenience. And ironically, that executive stayed, not because she had to, but because she wanted to work for someone who cared that much.

Alan Mulally arrived Ford as CEO in 2006. The company was hemorrhaging money and heading towards bankruptcy. He created a culture where leaders could admit problems without fear of punishment. “You can’t manage a secret,” he would say. He taught his executives that red flags weren’t signs of failure but opportunities for team problem-solving. One executive described how Mulally spent personal time coaching him through a failed product launch. Instead of blame, there was analysis. Instead of punishment, there was learning. That executive went on to lead one of Ford’s most successful turnarounds. Mulally’s deliberate development of his leadership team didn’t just save Ford but also created a generation of leaders who carried those lessons to other organizations.

Influencing your team members positively can make tangible difference in your organization. It is always a chain reaction. A departmental head who develops five managers who each develop ten team members has just improved the capabilities of fifty people. The effect of that across an organization gives the company a competitive advantage no competitor can buy. Organizations must make deliberate effort to make their leaders lead with the aim of developing their team members. Development doesn’t happen by accident. It requires intention, time and sometimes uncomfortable conversations. I’ve seen too many departmental heads who claim they’re “too busy” to invest in their people.

I have a friend who is a commercial leader at a leading paints company in Nigeria. He has worked with top FMCGs like Friesland Campina, Tolaram, and Promasidor including some other international assignments. He has delivered outstanding results consistently, and that has earned him his continuous promotions. Whenever he is asked what the secret of his landmark achievements is.

His response is consistent: People. He has continued to develop people and ensured they are rewarded when they perform. His legacy remains across all the companies he has worked. When you leave a positive mark on your team members, their desire will be to reward you with good performance and they will go all out to get that done. This isn’t manipulation but human nature. People want to perform for leaders who invest in them. They’ll run through walls for someone who genuinely cares about their growth.

In closing, leaders must use their power to value the best virtues in their team members. Power is interesting. It can be used to extract or to invest. It can also be used to demand or to develop. Too many leaders use their position to get what they need from people. The best leaders use their position to give people what they need to grow. The question every leader should ask is this: Five years from now, when your team members have moved on to other roles or other companies, what will they say about their time working with you? Will they talk about the skills they developed, the confidence they gained, the person they became? Or will you just be another name on their resume: a manager who extracted value but left nothing behind?

Oluwole Dada is the General Manager at SecureID Limited, Africa’s largest smart card manufacturing plant in Lagos, Nigeria.