Great leaders can determine what needs to be done quickly and how to do it well. They can pick who needs to do the work and when it needs to be done. The most important question that should be asked on the front end is Why? This post by Carey Nieuwhof answers that question:
Let’s ask an awkward, difficult, and at times piercing question: What motivates your ambition?
That’s an important question to ask. Why? Because if you don’t ask it, I promise everyone else around you will. Mostly I don’t like that question because I don’t like the answer to that question.
Sometimes my motivation is selfish. I recently interviewed Gordon MacDonald on my leadership podcast (if you missed it, it was one of the best episodes we’ve done to date, listen here).
Gordon observed that most leaders in their thirties are driven by ambition. Gordon is a little more accurate than I want to admit.