Once, I made a foolish statement to a coworker out of anger and had another attitude adjustment. I learned a valuable lesson about respect. Don’t make the same mistakes I made. Character-based leaders understand genuine respect based on true humility is currency.
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This is the 5th in a series of 6 articles on the attitude adjustments I had to make when I became a manager. With little management training and only a few managers to use for examples, my early management experiences were frustrating and demoralizing. I was drained, stressed and exhausted all the time. It seemed like everything was wrong.
Often in the workplace, a common solution to problems is to offer more training. Continue Reading…
My first management job felt like boot camp or pledge week for 2 years. Almost everything I did was wrong or hard, and I used to say “half of what I know and everything I didn’t know was bad.” It was a draining and trying time.
My life returned and my development as a leader progressed only when I started to embrace new (for me) ideas for leadership. I call those Attitude Adjustments. You can read about the others here. Today’s adjustment, the 4th in this series, is the idea that everyone leads.
This is the 3rd in a series of stories about my leadership journey. My first management position was less than successful. As I’ve moved beyond that job, I’ve learned about a few attitude adjustments necessary for leadership transformation.
The problems in my first management position stemmed from everyone having their own vision for the future. It occurred to me that, even though I was the boss, each team member was free to make their own choices. The scope of my leadership could never eclipse their power to choose. Everyone chooses the energy and the passion and the interest they bring to a job. We also may be free to chose the method. And for many even what they choose to do and the order they choose are up to them. Either your team chooses to do what was best for the organization or they didn’t. In the end, few people do things because they have to. They choose to do them because they believe the choices will get them where they want to go.
My first management position provided several opportunities for mismanagement and poor leadership. Much of what I’ve learned from leadership I learned after having made many mistakes over that 2 year stint. I regret learning things the hard way and the difficulty I caused for my team.
To change our leadership, we must Continue Reading…
I spent several years as a bad boss. I reacted poorly to the stress of my new leadership position and I developed a bad temper. I became (more) insensitive, explosive, negative and critical. And I micro managed. Much of what I now read or write about leadership challenges me to apologize to those people who used to work with me.
The change in my leadership came Continue Reading…
Mike Henry Sr. 