4 Things Your Team Wants from You

This week I had the joy of meeting a young leader who has done a great job developing her career. If you’ve followed this blog long then you know I love to learn from other leaders when I get the chance, and there is nothing more inspiring than learning from young leaders.

The company this person works for wasn’t always as successful as it is today. Four years ago it was suffering financially and experiencing the agony of workforce layoffs, yet today it is thriving, with multiple locations, the addition of hundreds of employees, and a future of exciting growth.

When I asked what caused the turnaround she answered, “Leadership.” Seriously, I did not set this up! Ha! The company changed many of their leaders. Isn’t it funny how one team of leaders can send a company spiraling, and yet a different team of competent leaders can send it soaring?

My new friend started explaining how the new leaders changed the culture, and her leader in particular was the best mentor she’d ever had. I love hearing about positive experiences, so out popped my next question. “What three qualities does your leader have that make her such a good leader?”

Without hesitation, let me say that again, without hesitation, she answered,

  1. Loyalty
  2. Listening
  3. Empathy

Her passion for her leader was so evident that I could easily tell that she was an engaged employee. She smiled when she talked about her leader. So I added No. 4 to her list: Love.

She agreed. You see, we can’t follow someone unconditionally without love; we also can’t lead someone to their full potential without love. I didn’t get to meet her leader, but I can’t wait to interview her! Stay tuned for that lesson.

My last question was if she’d ever worked for a poor leader (well, haven’t we all and frankly can’t we learn from that too?).  What three qualities do unsuccessful leaders have?

  1. They are poor communicators. Not talking to our people is a problem!
  2. They play the “I” card too much. “It’s all about ‘me’ people! Look at my title.”
  3. They don’t set expectations or giving clarity on expectations. Everybody wants to be successful, so what are you expecting of me?

Let’s learn from this young leader’s experience and valuable insights!


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  • Al says:

    I really enjoyed that, Linda. Some of us learn from what not to do. I am so glad you gave those examples.

    I hope this finds you well!

    • Linda Sasser says:

      Al, thanks for your comments! I agree with you sometimes knowing what we don’t want to be like is powerful learning.

  • Bob Robinson says:

    Great leadership lesson… hope you don’t mind if I add this to our Rotary club website for club leaders, young and old, to read and enjoy. Keep on sharing and teaching!