The day people stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them.

Powell’s line frames leadership as a relationship of trust and service rather than mere authority. When people routinely bring a leader their problems, it suggests they believe the leader will listen, help remove obstacles, and take responsibility for outcomes. If that flow stops, it may indicate fear, disengagement, or the sense that the leader is irrelevant or unresponsive—signals that the leader’s influence has eroded. The quote also implies that effective leaders invite bad news and dissenting information, because real problems surface first at the edges of an organization. In this view, being approached with problems is not a burden but evidence that leadership is functioning.