Leadership means Ownership

I have a friend that is getting frustrated with her new boss.

The new boss has made several mistakes that are impacting his employees. However instead of admitting what he doesn’t know, and owning his mistakes he either blames someone else, or acts like he doesn’t care.

My friend could understand and overlook the mistakes, however, the lack of ownership is causing the entire team to question the integrity of their new leader and eroding their trust.

The greatest leadership lessons learned – so far…

A few years ago I sat down and made a list of the most important lessons I’d learned in leadership and in life – so far.

Recently I found myself wondering about others numero uno leadership lessons, so I posed this question on Social Media.

[Tweet “What’s the greatest leadership lesson you’ve learned so far?”]


 These were some of the answers I received:

Blowing Up: Boxes, Typecasting & Limits

Blowing up labels and limits

Have you ever had someone make assumptions about you?

I despise boxes….  And typecasting….  And limits…  And then I realized I was holding some assumptions that were putting others in boxes.  Ugh!

…A couple of years ago, I volunteered to help out at a Career Fair.  Early in the day, several vans arrived from Goodwill’s Training Program.

As the room filled with people several things blew my boxes of assumptions apart:

When worlds collide… Important dialogs can begin if we let them

One of the parts of expat life that I looked forward to the most is living on a compound with people from all over the world.  …People of diverse races and religions and values and personal histories living next to each other as neighbors…

When Worlds Collide, Important Dialogs Can Begin If We Let Them

Last week  I shared a post with my friends – including some of my expat neighbors, about the people from Iran that were arrested after they recorded their own “Happy” YouTube Video.

I shared it because I’ve been really caught up in the news in the past few weeks:

  • News of mass abductions.
  • News of a death sentence for a woman who married outside of her absent father’s faith, that will be executed once her baby is weened.
  • News of others that have been arrested, beaten and jailed because of a stand they have taken.

I shared it because the longer I live as an expat in a land that operates in many of the same ways as Iran, the more I sense a silent pressure building between our little trips outside of this country.

Do you listen to your gut or to your logic? Which one is right?

The first time I remember learning to trust my gut was when I attended a camp the summer between Jr. High and High School. There was a counselor at the camp that always made me feel uncomfortable. Each time my gut kicked, my brain tried to explain what I was feeling.

  1. “Chery you have an overactive imagination.”
  2. “You’re acting childish. He is a counselor at a church camp…. Something must be wrong with your thinking.”