Do you know who the Young Eagles are in your organization? Moreover, do you know what to do nurture them so they don’t fly away? That is the premise of Larry’s newest free video series, Young Eagles. Here is Larry with an introduction of Young Eagles and how to identify them in your organization.

Hi, this is Larry Osborne here again, and I want to talk about something that is one of the most important things that every leader has to do. And that is to find and develop other leaders, and in particular over the long run, find and develop the next generation of leaders. So let’s focus for a few moments on this thing I like to call, young eagles.

Every ministry, every church, every organization has them, but I’ve found over the years that not everybody is very good at identifying them and there’s number of reasons. So let’s think for a few moments about what the traits of a young eagle actually are. Well, first of all, young eagles, are rare. When I talk about this, or sometimes write about it, what I find is that people just turn to look at younger leaders, maybe 10 to 15 years younger than them, and they go, “Oh, okay. These are the young eagles I’m gonna rise up.” No. Young eagles are rare.

There are lots and lots of young birds that will fly quite high, but they aren’t eagles. There are even some young pigeons that think they are eagles. At the end of the day what you want to find, and particularly be the wind beneath the wings of are these young eagles. And young eagles have a few things in common.

1. They have a gift set that stands out above everybody else.

It’s not just looking at somebody and thinking, there’s a lot of potential here. There has to be a lot of reality. Early on in my ministry I made the mistake of, when I saw potential in somebody, thinking that I had seen reality. And certainly, once in a while, you see potential in a young leader and as you work with them that potential really accelerates, often going further than you thought. But the vast majority of young eagles that become soaring eagles over time, it was pretty obvious from the very beginning, they were a different bird. There’s something else that I think is very, very important when you do this, and that is that you…

2. Look for humility.

When people rise up very quickly as leaders, what sometimes happens is their platform out paces their character, or their platform and skill set out paces their sense of humility. And if you lift up an eagle too quickly in that way, what you’re gonna get is somebody who stops listening, because they think their whole role in life is to be a teller and to be a model.

Over the years, there’s been even secular research done on who rises to the top and who doesn’t. Among people that early on are identified as potentially being fast tracked and rising to the top, and one of the most common derailment factors that these people have is their inability to get along with others. They’re great when they’re playing their solo game, but they’re not great when they play with others. Because they have this tendency to say, I am really something special. So those are some of the things you want to look for with young eagles.

You want to ask:

• Is there a history here that says more than potential, but literally they’re a different bird with very very unique giftedness?
• Do they have the character, and is the character keeping up with the platforms that you’re giving them?

And if you do that, there is nothing more invigorating and satisfying than to look at someone who’s soaring, and know you were a little bit of the wind beneath their wings.

This is the first video in the Young Eagles series available for free on YouTube. To watch the video, click below.