The CEO of San Diego-based Aya Healthcare – a provider of staffing for travel nurses in the U.S. – said leadership is about developing other people on a company's path from one point to another, The San Diego Union-Tribune reports.
In an interview with the Union-Tribune, Aya Healthcare CEO Alan Braynin said a leader should not hire people to be a cogs in a machine, but rather hire people to create more leaders with similar vision and passion.
"We're [Aya Healthcare] in very rapid growth mode. For the last three years we've doubled in size every year, and so we need people who can at least move up one level at minimum, if not multiple levels," he said.
In the interview, Mr. Braynin made distinctions between managers and leaders. He said a manager often oversees the status quo. A leader, however, listens to employee initiatives and feedback and changes course accordingly.
"That's one of the critical jobs a leader has, especially when an organization gets bigger. Your employees touch the customers, they really touch all your constituents and my biggest concern is making sure our leaders continue to listen to employees," Mr. Braynin told Union-Tribune. "Yes, it's good to come up with your own ideas but you really have to vet them out with people touching the customer and doing all the work."