Last week I had the pleasure of acknowledging one of the leaders at a client organization for his excellent skills as a supervisor. In reply, he smiled and said, “I like people.” That seemingly simple statement speaks a profound truth about leadership – just genuinely liking people makes a huge difference in our ease and effectiveness as a leader. Why? Because people can be exasperating, foolish, unpleasant, self-centered and so on. And because people can be loyal, hard-working, reliable, trustworthy and more. Great leaders have the capacity to deal appropriately and powerfully with a wide range of human behaviors. They find ways to work that bring out the best in people ~ themselves and others.

Food for Thought ~

Mother Teresa had this to say:
“People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway.
If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway.”

Question of the day ~

How might you broaden and deepen your capacity for working with people?

New Article now Available ~

Making a mistake is an opportunity to practice working with people under difficult circumstances. My recent column in the North Bay Business Journal is a story about the larger lessons that can be learned from making a mistake. If you haven’t read it yet, please click here.

With appreciation for the great people I work with,

Mary