7 Ridiculous Things I Stopped Doing To Become A Better Leader
--
Over the years, I’ve had some stupid, absurd, even downright idiotic leadership habits.
They don’t teach how to be a great leader in school, just a dumb manager. Unfortunately, it’s also rare to have an incredible mentor to help craft your leadership skills throughout your career.
After trial and error, and the eventual support of my business mentor, I stopped these stupid leadership habits.
I stopped assuming.
Assumptions make you look like an ass.
The word even starts with ass. Early in my leadership journey, I made assumptions about everything. I assumed people’s intentions, motivations, and why certain things occurred.
Instead of making assumptions, I managed my emotions, learned empathy, and started to have meaningful conversations.
It’s these conversations that exposed the truth about most situations.
I stopped letting my emotions guide my behavior.
One day, I started to yell at a sales team member over the phone as he was located remotely in Chicago.
He was an industry veteran that joined our team. He always thought he was right, until one day, I had to hold him accountable for a decision he made. He commented on my father, which set me off, so I fired him. The team in the office heard the banter, and after some reflection, I felt stupid.
I let my emotions get the best of me; when they do, there’s never a good outcome.
I stopped poor communication.
Being ADD, type-A, and OCD, my communication used to be quick, brief and likely missing some details.
I learned that to be a great leader, you must master written and verbal communication. It’s truly the only way to get things done.
It’s how you get the team headed towards the same mission, guide every critical decision, and communicate with the team.
Without excellent communication, everything gets lost — or misunderstood.
