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OK, THAT was a mistake. We don’t want to have THAT happen again.

As the leader, what’s your role in addressing this? Well, the top priority is to fix it as best we can, whether that means with customers, regulators, partners, employees, or whatever. But fixing it for THIS time is much different than getting to the root of the problem so we can ensure it doesn’t happen again. Or at least that recovery is a lot less painful.

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Humans don’t live in the present very well. We’re always looking forward, anticipating.

It’s usually a good thing, but there’s times we can get into trouble.

As a leader, part of your job is to make some tough decisions. Things which will sting for you and those around you.

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It can be tough to undergo a change of leadership. Especially if you’re the outgoing leader.

Sure, there are potentially many effects on people in the organization, but that’s not what I’m focused on today. I’d like to talk about YOUR experience.

The best case is that the change is known in advance, even if not all the details are clear. Soon there will be a specific date, perhaps a certain event at which the announcement will be made. Ideally you see this as a positive thing, the passing of leadership duties from one person to the next.

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I’ve been doing a lot of planning recently – weeks, months, years – and I’ve noticed something curious.

Here’s the way I describe it: I’ve created a plan for this thing happening next month, and have done my best to think through all the ins and outs. It’s become so real in my mind that I’m imagining it actually happening.

The problem, of course, is that it hasn’t actually happened yet.

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Leadership can certainly feel lonely at times.

A lot of that feeling comes from a belief that you’re not supposed to show weakness, doubt, or failure. You’re the strongest person in the entire organization, right?

But this leads to isolation.

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There are some amazing leaders out there who we admire and even envy.

Here’s the problem: they’re not you. And if you tried to be them, you might totally fail. Or even hate yourself for trying.

How do we deal with this apparent contradiction?

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We’ve all been there, the greatest embarrassments of our careers.

The hard part is being really honest with yourself, as you probably saw the failure coming and just hoped that you’d be able to find your away around it.

Jim Collins articulated this idea well in Good to Great:

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Do you have periodic one-on-one meetings with each of your employees?

I would imagine we all INTEND to do that, but … things get busy. It’s not critical. So these powerful conversations get delayed.

I’d say you don’t realize just how amazing these kinds of meetings can be. What’s the point?

Well, primarily you’re:

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There’s a powerful concept in the field of coaching called co-creation.

It’s also useful in the world of leadership because it says so much about aligning teams and engendering buy-in.

The traditional view of leadership is that the leader is the one who tells people what to do. If you have any significant experience at all, you know that this definition doesn’t hold water. Why? Because if you respect peoples’ humanity, you have to give them the ability to make their own decisions.

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A leader’s primary reason for being is to instill hope.

Think about it: Why would an employee want to work for you? Because they hope for a stable life and valuable work, with people who make it interesting.

Why would a customer want to buy from you? Because they hope you’ll fix their problem or address a need they have.

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