The average age of a supervisor is 33, yet the average age someone begins to get leadership training is 42. That’s a decade of lost potential, or worse, a decade of misguided management!

This data comes from the legendary Jack Zenger who has a great piece over in the HBR blog called, “We Wait Too Long to Train Our Leaders.”

In my talks I always mention that there is no downside to treating everyone as a leader in an organization. We don’t need a title or even direct reports to be leaders; we can all lead from where we are. My humble suggestion is that everyone receive leadership training early, and often.

Kevin Kruse is a NY Times bestselling author and keynote speaker. Get more success and tips from his newsletter at kevinkruse.com and check out keynote video clips. His new book, Employee Engagement 2.0, teaches managers how to turn apathetic groups into emotionally committed teams.