I must apologize for the lack of posts in recent weeks. Trade show season began last month, which is the busiest time of the year for me. My schedule has been brutal with the added responsibility of finalizing curriculum and scheduling for the new makeup school while also continuing to operate my online site and beauty consulting business. I promise to be more diligent moving forward and post positive and inspiration messages on a regular basis in hopes of shining a bright spot on what could otherwise be a dreary and draining day.
Today's post is inspired by my desire to shed light on a topic that is often overlooking in the work place - poor and ineffective leadership. I recently learned that someone I admire and respect has chosen to discontinue working on a project that is close to my heart. Although I am not privy to all of the details that resulted in this person's departure, I personally have witnessed a lack of disrespect for them and others by our team leader. For weeks I too have been frustrated with our team leader due to their lack of decisiveness, character and dedication to the original purpose of the project. Sadly, despite my passion for the project, I question my long term involvement given the leadership at hand.
If you are in a position to lead others in your personal or professional world, I hope that you will take today's message to heart. Leading with personal integrity and admitting when we are wrong can be challenging. However, the respect you will earn will outweigh any temporary discomfort you experience in the process.
Having worked in the corporate world for most of my career, I have had the opportunity to work with companies that stood the test of time and were stable within their industry as well as several start up companies. Regardless of stability, the level of success that was attained within the department or company as a whole was greatly influenced by the style of leadership that was in place.
Although there are many qualities of superior leaders, the ability to build an effective team of experienced and passionate individuals is key and what sets great leaders apart from others. It's a fact of existence that no leader possesses the skills or ability to be proficient at every role within an organization. A leader of excellence must be willing to admit that they lack certain traits or skills necessary to single-handedly accomplish their mission. After assessing their weaknesses, leaders of excellence diligently select qualified individuals to compensate for their shortcomings. Once the team is in place and given a common goal, a leader of excellence empowers team members to employ their skills and accomplish the mission at hand.
Unfortunately, some leaders have "tunnel vision" or an inflated ego and are unwilling to trust the team they selected to counterbalance their weakness and compliment their strengths. This style of leadership is referred to as narcissistic leadership, a style in which the leader is only interested in him/herself. Narcissistic leaders are driven by unyielding arrogance, self-absorption and a personal egotistic need for power and admiration.
Narcissistic leaders create a negative and unproductive work environment with their demoralizing treatment of others. With employee satisfaction directly linked to turnover rates, narcissistic leaders are prone to higher than average turnover rates and diminished capacity to effectively build a successful business.
How do you lead your team or employees?? If you would like to become a better leader I highly recommend the following books:
Gung Ho! by Ken Blanchard
Whale Done! The Power of Positive Relationships by Ken Blanchard
Fish! by Stephen C. Lundin, Harry Paul and John Christensen
"A great man is always willing to be little". Ralph Waldo Emerson
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