Danger, Danger

I have been following Leadership Freak, Dan Rockwell for awhile now. I truly enjoy his insight and find myself thinking quite a bit like him in most circumstances. His post from today, 10 Dangers Leaders Face, really hit home with me.

10 Dangers Leaders Face:

1. Facing disappointment without growing bitter or vengeful. People will let you down, You put yourself on the line for them, and they drop the ball.
2. Believing you’re more important than others – loving the spotlight!
3. Feeling like you deserve better. For example, having people assume you have selfish motives.
4. Needing to be right.
5. Pushing forward when it’s time to pull back. Perseverance has a dark side.
6. Choosing to defend your ideas rather than explore theirs.
7. Navigating backstabbers, butt-kissers and yes-men. They can’t be trusted because self-interest, rather than organizational interest, dominates their approach. They tell you what you want to hear.
8. Making tough decisions that invite negative responses.
9. Repeating the past. If everyone was like you and circumstances didn’t change, you could succeed by repeating the past.
10. Thinking knowledge and experience, in one area, makes you knowledgeable in others. Healthy confidence becomes blind foolishness.

He brings up the simple approach of humility to address those dangers. No one can make you humble, only you control that.

Being humble comes with some great benefits…

• Gives you the ability to cope with situations. You have that higher purpose in life already set.
• Higher self-control because there is less importance on self.

• As Dan points out, the humble leader will be a more effective leader.

We all should ask ourselves:

• How can we be better?
• How can we make the TEAM be better?

Do you see those items out their with your leaders? Or yourself?

Photo via: Copyright: ankudi / 123RF Stock Photo