What if you could predict what your 360-degree review will say before a single colleague even opens the survey?

Most leaders spend their careers chasing external metrics: the bottom line, NPS, or engagement. Those results matter, but they are lagging indicators. They tell you what happened, not where you are or whether you are heading in the right direction.

Having worked with thousands of leaders, I learned that a leading indicator of your current leadership impact is the Hebrew concept of ‘Nachat.’

The story behind the word…

What Nachat Means in Leadership

At my graduation ceremony, as I walked off stage with a double major in Economics and Business, my mother was glowing. She teased me: “Avi, don’t you like the other tie I bought you?” As she said that, tears of Nachat poured down her cheeks. That moment was priceless for both of us.

What is Nachat?

Nachat (Naches in Yiddish) means the sense of pride, gratification, contentment, and sheer joy of watching someone you invested in flourish. It is the opposite of jealousy. It is elation at witnessing others achieve their goals, live their values, and reach their full potential.

Nachat is the ROI a leader earns that no spreadsheet can measure. It uplifts, motivates, and bonds the giver and the receiver for a lifetime. ~ Avi Liran

Nachat at Work

Good leaders, like good parents, focus on both results and the long-term development of the people in their care. They build environments where people can thrive and reach their potential. Leaders who create the conditions for intrinsic motivation, magnify strengths, and invest in character development harvest Nachat.

When employees feel their leader genuinely cares about them as people, the result is a virtuous cycle of stronger engagement, deeper motivation, and a real sense of achievement.

Are you keeping your distance?

Many leaders admit they prefer to keep their distance from their employees. After all, a family seldom lays off a family member. They worry that closeness leads to favoritism, or that employees will abuse familiarity to extract privileges. Some take this so far that they appear cold, even though they are genuinely interested in their team members’ success, and the distance backfires.

Strong leaders know the balance. They show genuine care for their people’s development while holding clear limits, just as parents do when house rules get crossed. They set ground rules honestly, as adults to adults.

Make Nachat your internal KPI

The most admired leaders in any organization earn the deep trust of their people because their care is real. They mentor, guide, and coach. They give honest feedback delivered with kindness and, when the moment calls for it, tough love.

The Nachat 

Leadership Challenge: How do I nurture, coach, and train my team so well that I become genuinely proud of them? ~ Avi Liran

Here is a practical way to run the ‘Nachat’ challenge. I recommend running it at least once a quarter.

• List every person you work closely with. Then go column by column:
• My Pride Level (0–100): Give each person an honest score. One hundred means you would stand up at their promotion dinner without being asked. Fifty is not neutral. It is “Houston, we have a problem,” signaling a wrong fit, a skills gap, or a serious readjustment conversation that is overdue. Anything below 50% pride in a person is a leadership emergency that only gets worse unless you attend to it.
• Why? Justify your score. Write what specifically earns that number. What are you proud of? What is holding it down? Be precise. Vague answers (“good attitude”) mean you have not looked closely enough yet.
• What would move the Pride-o-Meter up 10%? Name the concrete actions, skills, behaviors, or attitude shifts you need to see from them. This is a growth map, not a complaint list. What would need to be different in the next 90 days?
• What do I need to do to enable that growth? A low score is a mirror of your joint work. Own your part. What coaching, honest feedback, resources, or space have you not yet provided? Schedule a conversation with each of them and agree on a joint plan to align expectations and provide the resources needed to achieve it.

During dozens of Delivering Delight keynotes and workshops, I asked thousands of leaders the following questions:

• “When you are proud of someone 90 out of a 100, do you trust them more?”
• “Is it true that the more you are proud of them, the more you trust them?”
• “Is it true that the more you trust someone, the more you are willing to delegate to them?”
• “When you delegate more (and micro-manage less), are they more motivated, empowered, and work harder while you gain more time for what truly matters?”

If you answered yes to all four, you already understand why Nachat belongs on your leadership scorecard.

Receiving Nachat, Giving Appreciation

The biggest reward one can get and give their mentors is to give them Nachat.

How do I know that I’ve reached a certain milestone in life? I started seeing my mentees succeed at levels that filled my chest with Nachat. For example, when one of them earned the CSP (Certified Speaking Professional) title, which is held by fewer than 12% of speakers worldwide.

That night, I remembered a conversation I had with a hotel GM: “When I retire, I want to see my talented people becoming successful, admired GMs. I want to feel that I had a lot to do with helping them get there. When someone asks who influenced them most, I want them to think of me.”

Seeing my mentee glowing as he was declared the CSP also invoked deep feelings of gratitude. When I got home, I spoke with my mentors and expressed my gratitude for their continued investment in my success. leadership effectiveness

Seeing my mentee glowing as he was declared CSP also invoked deep feelings of gratitude. When I got home, I called my mentors and expressed my gratitude for their continued investment in my success. I am sure it warms their hearts and gives them one more dose of Nachat.

Working to become proud of your team is one of the highest-return investments a leader can make. Pride builds trust. Trust unlocks delegation. Delegation frees you, and it grows them. Everyone wins.

I wish you a lot of Nachat in your life.