You’re the Smartest Person in the Room?
It’s All About You?
The Irrelevance of Truth?
Drop Your Integrity?
Winning the Blame Game?
Sound familiar? When my co-author Kim Obbink and I wrote this book, we didn’t have any specific leader in mind. Instead, we reflected on the overall patterns of bad leadership we had experienced during our years as business coaches to entrepreneurs. Time and again we noticed that leaders fell into the same traps and were bringing themselves down without even realizing it.
Our first guide, “How NOT to Be a Leader,” was written to help leaders avoid becoming “hated losers in the ivory tower” by their teams, or having to look in the rear-view mirror and wonder if that was the car wreck of their leadership road trip. In each chapter, we shine the spotlight on the oh-so-common mistakes that many leaders make while plowing forward through life and business without taking the time to really consider the effect they are having on others. We’ve all seen and heard the horror stories of bad leadership, and hopefully, many of you have been lucky enough to have been the benefactor of truly great leadership. Either way, if it’s your turn at the top, this book will help you understand what you can do to be a better leader by first understanding what you should never ever do; and if you are, why you should back up, and take another look at yourself and your leadership qualities, and do the work and self-reflection needed to get back on track.
We identify the twenty-four characteristics that you definitely don’t want to be known for. What was it you heard in your last 360? Micromanaging doesn’t work? You aren’t listening? You want everyone to do it your way? You might have a few to work on, so pick a couple, laugh with us, and learn a better approach.
As we have often found, you might not have the perfect self-awareness mirror on your wall so this book can help. You can also give the book to some of your peers or your direct reports and see which of the twenty-four characteristics they might identify as your areas to work on. Go ahead, you’ll be glad you did. And your direct reports will be even more excited about your transformation.
If you’re ready to find out How NOT to Be a Leader click here.