A series on Leadership lessons from the book: The Prophet by Khalil Gibran

Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet speaks to the inner work of leadership. It connects us to themes of autonomy, responsibility, love, and meaning. This series explores its timeless wisdom through a modern leadership lens, offering reflection for those building cultures that value both performance and humanity.

Kahlil Gibran wrote in The Prophet:

“The teacher who walks in the shadow of the temple, among his followers, gives not of his wisdom but rather of his faith and his lovingness.
If he is indeed wise he does not bid you enter the house of his wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind.”

For years, leadership was defined by expertise. The leader knew more, decided more, directed more. Teaching meant transferring knowledge from the person at the front of the room to everyone else.

That model never really worked.

Teaching Is About Awakening Capability.

The most effective leaders I’ve worked with over the last two decades didn’t try to be the smartest person in the room. Instead, they focused on inspiring others and unlocking potential. They focused on helping others discover what they can do and what they already know.

This aligns closely with adult learning theory. Malcolm Knowles emphasized that adults learn best when learning is self-directed. Learning should also be experiential and immediately relevant. Adults want to be engaged.

Research in workplace learning consistently shows that adults learn most effectively when they can:

• Connect new ideas to lived experience
• Solve real, meaningful problems
• Exercise autonomy and choice
• Reflect, rather than simply receive correction

In other words, adults learn when they are activated, not instructed.

Great leaders understand this intuitively. They ask more than they answer. They listen longer than they lecture. They create space for people to think, struggle, and grow.

Coaching, Not Commanding

This is why coaching-based leadership has become essential. Modern coaching models are grounded in the idea that insight leads to sustainable change more reliably than advice. Studies on leadership coaching and behavior change consistently show that people are more committed to solutions they help generate themselves.

Coaching isn’t about withholding direction. It’s about resisting the urge to rescue, or to take over.

Leaders who jump in too quickly to provide answers unintentionally undermine confidence, ownership, and learning. Over time, teams become dependent, hesitant, and risk-averse.

The coaching mindset says:

• “I trust you to think.”
• “I believe you can figure this out.”
• “My role is to support your clarity, not replace it.”

Ironically, the leader who is always needed is not indispensable. That leader is a bottleneck.

The Best Leaders Make Themselves Increasingly Unnecessary

This is the part that makes many leaders uncomfortable.

If you’ve built your identity on being the expert, stepping back can feel like becoming irrelevant. Research on high-performing teams suggests the opposite. Teams with higher levels of psychological safety and autonomy, concepts popularized by Amy Edmondson, consistently outperform those that rely on directive leadership alone.

The strongest leaders build teams that:

• Make sound decisions without constant approval
• Navigate challenges without panic
• Develop capabilities that exceed the leader’s own expertise

The leader doesn’t become irrelevant. Instead, they evolve as their team grows. Their influence deepens even as their direct control decreases.

Just as Gibran suggested, the teacher does not lead people into their own wisdom, but to the threshold of theirs.

A Question for Leaders

Before your next meeting, training, or conversation, ask yourself:

• Am I trying to be helpful or am I trying to be needed?
• Am I teaching to demonstrate knowledge or to awaken capability?
• What would happen if I trusted my people a little more than my answers?

Leadership isn’t measured by how much you tell. It’s measured by how much others grow in their impact on the team and the company. When you find joy in watching your people work into that growth, something powerful happens. Teams become exponentially stronger and leading them becomes far more rewarding.

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