Breaking the Glum-Leader Syndrome
I’ve met some unhappy leaders. Perhaps they love position, power, prestige, or the paycheck. But, they drain energy from people and teams.
Unhappy leaders lead unhappy teams.
Do something else if leading makes you miserable. It’s not worth it.
12 Ways to Break the Glum-Leader Syndrome:
- Express, don’t suppress, enjoyment. It’s OK to be a happy leader. People will still respect you in the morning.
- Trust the talent of others. Leaders who believe they do everything better than others are confused, unhappy, self-important nincompoops.
- Lead for reasons beyond results. Connect with your inner drive to make the world a better place. Accentuate your impact on people.
- Receive help. I asked a room full of leaders if they enjoyed receiving help. The only person who raised their hand was the top leader of the group. If you want to enjoy the journey, let people help you along the way. Arrogance is the first step to emptiness, ungratefulness, and misery.
- Get real. Maintaining a false image diverts energy from creativity and joy.
- Connect. Isolation is discouraging. Focus as much on relationships as you do on results.
- Enjoy the joys of others. Stop looking down on the “little” people.
- Think small. Changing the world overwhelms. Change the world by improving the environment where you are.
- Don’t pursue happiness; do things that matter. The pursuit of happiness is chasing the wind.
- Enjoy imperfect progress. You always fall short when you reach high.
- Live by your values. Don’t define yourself by others.
- Build a talented inner circle with foundations of drive, compassion, respect, and honesty.
Bonus: Hang with happy people.
Find happiness in leading. Happiness is energy.
What makes leaders live in unhappiness?
How might leaders find happiness in leading?
Another great post! Perhaps it is my OCD that wants things in rank order, but I can’t help feeling that #5 – Get Real, needs to be the very first thing to be done, always, in everything. Any effort undertaken without a genuine heart, genuinely expressed is immediately limited in its potential for success. Thanks Dan – your blog is always a great way to start the day!
Thanks Taber. Good call!
This post needs to be read by everyone…parents, educators, pastors, bosses. Even if you only lead yourself – do it well. I’ll be using this post as a reminder for a long, long time.
Thanks Kris. Your comment is an encouragement to me. Best for the journey!
Great post, Dan.
Two points struck me; the first is #9 Don’t pusue happiness; do things that matter. I would hope that the things that matter, when they are accomplished, make all leaders, their teams and the recipients of their work, happy. Wouldn’t you agree?
The second is #10 Enjoy imperfect progress. This is SO hard for perfectionist leaders. We are so afraid to fail that we cannot tolerate “imperfect” progress. Why is that not good enough? Isn’t it a step in the right direction? Perhaps it is related to ego. We never want to be seen as failures. On that note, here is myfavorite quote from one of basketball’s most successful players: “I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
– Michael Jordan
Thanks Dr. Pinzon. I believe happiness is a by-product of doing things that matter. So, yes, I definitely agree.
I’m with you on “imperfect” progress. I throw that word out to poke at all the perfectionists in the room. (Including me.)
Thanks for the Jordan quote and for sharing your insights.
Live by your values and do things that matter. That pretty much sums it up Dan. Great post.
Thanks Steven. If we grab those two, we’re on our way.
Don’t pursue happiness, do things that matter. Yes, because doing things that matter is what leads to happiness! Thanks, excellent post!
Exactly! 🙂
I can just see these on a a picture of Walter White titled “Breaking Glum”
🙂
Great post. Especially enjoyed the use of the word “nincompoop.” That just doesn’t come up enough in daily conversation 🙂
Thanks Katie. I was proud of myself because I spelled it correctly the first try!!! I guess I wasn’t a nincompoop. 🙂
Love #9: “Don’t pursue happiness; do things that matter.” Like trusting your team…
Thanks John. Always a pleasure.
A fantastic list of tips you have compiled here! It’s a great reminder for me as a first year teacher. I applaud!
Thanks Amacknificentview. Best wishes for your teaching career.
Thanks much! Excited and nervous 😁
Thanks, Dan. Not only a prescription for leadership but one for life! I’ll pass this onto my kids!
Thanks Erica. I appreciate you dropping in. You have my respect for all you do for the community.
Dan, if someone were to ask for the two top leadership traits I would say wellness and happiness. Happiness is the secret motive of all we do and of all we are willing to endure…professionally and personally. We can bring it from home to the workplace, or we can take it home from the workplace. And I believe happiness is simply a sense of fulfillment–completeness—that comes from within us and depends on no one or no attachment.
The adages regarding happiness I enjoy most are:
1) Happy people make people happy.
2) It’s not happy people who are thankful: It’s thankful people who are happy.
3) It’s not that happy people are grateful. It’s grateful people who are happy.
(And, not to be happy is not to be grateful–for something…even nothing.)
4) Here’s how to make a decision: Whatever we decide, make sure it creates happiness.
5) Happy persons are not people in a certain set of circumstances, rather persons with a certain set of attitudes.
“Doing good” is another name for happiness–for all that is helpful and inspiring is this phrase “doing good.” Whoever would live well, in joy and happiness–let them be generous, be calm, and cultivate the “doing of good.” By practicing and bringing good, that person is wise, at peace, successful, respected, and infused with this grand virtue of happiness.—Plato
Great post!!