Via the New York Times’ Corner Office column. David Novak is Chairman, Chief Executive, and President of Yum Brands.

“The best leaders I’ve known really take an active interest in a person. And once that person demonstrates they have skill and capability, they try to help them achieve their potential. That’s always been my thinking about management. If you have someone who’s smart, talented, aggressive and wants to learn, then your job is to help them become all they can be.

What I think a great leader does, a great coach does, is understand what kind of talent you have and then you help people leverage that talent so that people can achieve what they never thought they were capable of. The only way you can do that is to care about the people who work for you. No one’s going to care about you unless you care about them. But if you care about someone, genuinely, then they’re going to care about you because you’re making a commitment and an investment in them.

…You show you care by really taking an active interest in the people working for you, and you care enough to give them direct feedback. People are starved for direct feedback. People want to hear how they can do better. Too many leaders don’t provide that feedback. So if you take an active interest in someone, you take an active interest in sharing with them your perspective on what they can do to improve.”