The Long-Nose Leader
You can’t bring out the best in others while looking down your nose.
Devalued people perform below their potential.
You need a nose job if you:
- Think about what others do wrong and what you do right.
- Interrupt while others are talking.
- Focus on weaknesses in others and strengths in yourself.
- One up. Whatever you do is always better than what others do.
- Minimize the progress others make and magnify the progress you make. Long-nose leaders are surrounded by people who aren’t good enough.
- Tear down others to build up yourself.
- Text during meetings.
Surround yourself:
They say great leaders surround themselves with people who are better than themselves. How are you looking up-to, rather than down-on, the people around you?
Lousy leaders look down on people they should look up to.
The more self-important you become, the less successful you are. Superiority in leaders breeds inferiority in teams. Most will go along. Some will leave before they confront your long nose.
Position perverts perspective.
7 ways to give yourself a nose job:
- Invite others to give you negative feedback. When was the last time someone corrected you?
- Invite a teammate to help you improve your leadership. Adopt a learners attitude.
- Go to your boss and ask them to help you improve something.
- Hang out with front-line employees regularly. Have lunch in the lunch room twice a week.
- Explore suggestions. “Tell me more.” Every time you explain why things shouldn’t change, you solidify the past.
- Stop gossiping.
- Say thank you. Take gratitude walks on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.
- Make service your guiding light.
- Enable others to outshine you.
- Share what you’re learning from mistakes.
Bonus: Never hire anyone unless they are better than you in their area of expertise.
How might leaders give themselves a nose job?
Dan,
What has worked for me is the desire to educate myself and share with others so we can grow as a team or individuals on a common journey for the betterment of our company and our services. These educational values will enhance our lives as well, the thirst for wisdom and knowledge becomes the base building blocks of the nose job configuration..
Great post! What to do when your leader’s nose keeps getting longer and longer?
Thanks Alex. Hopefully it will get so long that it will create a giant nose-hole that will collapse on itself.
Thanks Dan! I truly enjoyed the answer.
Hi Dan,
I am late to the party here – but wow, what a wonderful post! You have given a name to my nightmares of leaders past. Thankfully, I am being mentored and lead by a fantastic leadership team now, though I never forget the days of being told I will NEVER be good enough. Not a good feeling, and even worse – not an opportunity for growth.
Thanks!