Last week, I attended a farewell celebration for a leader who has deeply impacted my life, my work, and our organization over the last six years. She’s stepping into a new professional chapter, and while transitions always carry emotion, the evening felt far more rooted in gratitude than loss.
What struck me most wasn’t sadness. It was love.
Story after story was shared about the ways she had impacted people. Encouraged them. Believed in them. Helped them grow. There was laughter, gratitude, tears, and the unmistakable feeling that this wasn’t just about a title or position. It was about relationships. At one point during the evening, she spoke about how she never saw people as tasks to manage, but as humans. Relationships. Family. The chosen kind.
And honestly, I think that’s why the room felt the way it did. People may respect power. But they love humanity. She is the example of what human-centered leadership looks like in real life.
Over the last year, I’ve often referred to her as my leader, mentor, and boss. But over time, something shifted. Through conversations, collaboration, trust, encouragement, and shared vision, I’ve felt myself evolving, too. Not just professionally, but personally. What started as leadership slowly became mentorship. What became mentorship slowly became friendship. And somewhere in the middle of all that, I started becoming someone stronger, too.
Last year, during a particularly difficult season in my life, I wrote a blog post based on a cycling metaphor. I shared a story about struggling to close the gap, and how she metaphorically rolled back just enough to say, “Get on my wheel. I’ll pull you up.”
At the time, I thought the lesson was about support. Now I think it was also about becoming. Because that’s what great leaders do. They reduce the resistance long enough for people to discover their own strength. They create safety. Belief. Momentum. And eventually, confidence begins to grow in the person drafting behind them.
Last week, as I looked around at the people gathering, I realized something else. The best leaders don’t create followers. They create — and nurture — more leaders. Not carbon copies of themselves, but people who feel more empowered to use their own voice, trust their own instincts, and step more fully into who they are becoming.
Maybe that’s the true measure of human-centered leadership. Not control. Not recognition. Not authority. But the number of people who walk away stronger, braver, kinder, and more fully themselves because they crossed paths with you.
This isn’t really a goodbye story. Not yet, anyway. It’s a story about impact. About evolution. About the people who help pull us forward until one day we realize we’re stronger than we used to be.
Some people leave organizations. But they never really leave the lives they changed.
©2026 Lori Ann King
Read More on Leadership and Culture from the blog:
- Get on My Wheel! The Gift of Someone Who Believes in You
- When Leaders Leave: Choosing Love Over Fear
- Resume Virtues vs Eulogy Virtues: Building Character, Career, and Workplace Culture
- Old Testament vs. New Testament Hierarchy: Leadership Through Fear or Love
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