What is your real value as a leader?

I spent years thinking my value was measured how responsive I was.

Quick replies. Open door. Always reachable. If someone needed something, I was there.

And honestly? It felt good. Helpful. Like I was doing my job as a leader.

But at some point I had to ask myself a hard question:

If I disappeared for a week — what would people actually miss?

Would they miss how fast I replied to email or Slack? How often I'm available outside of work hours for that quick call or text?

Or would they miss the clarity I brought to a messy problem? The way I helped someone think through a tough decision? The direction I set that made their work feel purposeful?

Here's what I've seen coaching leaders across industries: continuous availability isn't a leadership brand. It's a coping mechanism.

It feels productive. It keeps the anxiety at bay that being unavailable might mean you're less valuable. But it quietly crowds out the work that actually builds your reputation and your career.

So how do you audit this? Start here:

→ Ask your team what they'd lose without you. Not what they'd miss logistically; what would actually suffer. If the answers are mostly transactional, that's data.
→ Audit your calendar. Where are you spending time that connects to a goal you set, a person you're developing, a result you're driving? If it's hard to find, that's data too.
→ Notice who calls you a thought partner vs. a resource. One values your thinking. The other values your time.

Your availability isn't your value. Your vision is. Your ability to develop people is. The goals you set and how you lead others in delivering against them — that's the work that compounds.

Treading water keeps you afloat. But it doesn't get you anywhere.