A good advisor must eliminate the need for his advice

A successful leader can be judged by the number of advisors he can do without and a successful advisor by the degree to which he renders himself redundant . The latter's advice must always be so good that the leader has no further use for him. The number of unemployed persons a leader keeps as his advisors is generally a sign only of his magnanimity towards those loya to him.But the trouble with leaders is that they allow their aides to strut as advisors; the trouble with advisors is that they mistake this magnanimity as proof of their own indispensability. A good advisor must eliminate the need for his advice, and a good leader must make all his mistakes appear to the result of wrong advice. An adviosr must understand his role as an intellectual bullet proof jacket for his leader.