The Leadership Mirror

I’ve got a hard truth to share: We as leaders need to take a long hard look in the mirror, because we are failing!

MOST LEADERS AREN’T LEADERS.

They are just the first in a long line of followers. Bold statement, right? Believe me, I don’t make it lightly. Before I explain, I want to share a story.

Sitting across from Juliana, a rising next-generation leader in her industry, I felt genuinely proud of her for her courage as a leader. Over the last month, she’d been sharing with me that she had struggled in dealing with an individual who directly reported to her. She had found herself constantly frustrated and having to push down her anger at having to “babysit” this individual in order to get them to meet deadlines. (We’ve all been there…right?) The subtle clench of her jaw as she described this individual’s behavior told us both there was something going on under the surface for Juliana…

Over the last month that Juliana and I had worked together, I’d asked her to examine why this person was so adept at getting under her skin (outside of the obvious issue of not meeting deadlines). Today, with a smile of relief and certainty Juliana announced, “This might sound crazy, but this person does exactly what my older brother did when I was a…