Strive to be a Good Leader

Are you a leader?  Are you good at it?  If not, you owe it to the people you are leading to become better.

We all know people who have become bosses or supervisors because they’ve worked their way up at a library or organization.  But longevity is not the reason to become the leader.  You must be good at it.

You must “Stand Up!” You must publicly take a stand even when it is unpopular, no matter what the consequences.  Don’t excuse things that are unacceptable in others.  Pay attention.

And you must be both “tough and tender.”  No, don’t be tough for the sake of being tough.  We all know of bosses who bark orders and fly off the handle.  But demand the best, push when results are less than you expect, and praise and thank lavishly when warranted.  Give employees the freedom to fail but expect them to learn from failures.  Practice “tough empathy.”

I always said I wanted a boss who wanted his or her staff to make him/her look good, and if we did, they’d make sure everyone knew it was because of the staff.

Strive to stand up, be both tough and tender, and let the world know your staff makes you look good.  You’ll be glad you did.

Photo © 2005 michael warren,  Flickr.   http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/