You would have thought that they were a losing team. The list of "things that are wrong" was much, much longer than the "things that are right". A leadership team was going through an extensive strategy offsite.

Meet Chad. He is a carpenter by trade but it's been tough lately. Chad has not always made the best choices and he is reaping the consequences of some of those decisions

It was a total fail. The message was completely wrong and the timing was awful. Those who were in the room when the event occurred knew immediately that this went directly against the mission of the organization. 

There are leaders who make decisions. There are those who don't.  There are also those who criticize and nitpick. I was talking with a young leader who was having a hard time understanding a decision that a leader had made some time ago.

He had the position. He had the authority. The call was his to make. This leader of a large corporation knew that a change needed to be made. He also knew that his decision would affect a leader on his team. He had two options.

One of my heroes, Jim Odom, was presented with the Citizen of the Year award by our local Chamber of Commerce recently. This comes as no surprise to me. This man has met with Presidents, led huge projects for NASA including being an integral part of saving the Hubble telescope when it was on the brink of destruction several years ago.

It always catches me off guard. It seems I never expect it. But I should, I guess. The leader was explaining to me what had just taken place. A team member just had a conversation with her that left no doubt of his intentions and motivation.

Zig Ziglar once said, "Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly…until you can do it well". I was talking with a leader who was experiencing the repercussions of a superior who lead with bullying, intimidating tactics. It seems the boss wanted results without the discipline of process. 

Who are you? Really. What is it that makes you tick? Are you comfortable “in your own skin”? The leaders who are the most impressive to me are those who know themselves well enough to recognize their strengths and weaknesses. I asked a strong leader recently what she considered her greatest asset. She replied, "I believe that I am self aware.”

What is it that separates some leaders from the rest?

Have you ever noticed that those who lecture the most lead the least?

One was a veteran in her field with many years of work experience. The other was a young millennial with incredible talent but very little work experience.

"Mommy, I am having bad thoughts that scare me,” the six year old girl was struggling. Wisely, her mom said

I don't believe that there is such a thing as being stagnant when it comes to leadership. A wise leader, the CEO of a large company that is experiencing incredible growth, recently told me…

Many times we expect people to work together with no leadership or direction. Many times we assume that by simply putting individuals together, alignment will occur and goals will be met.

I thought maybe he would give me some tips for leading at the executive level or directing a space center. Nope, none of these made the conversation topic list.

"She had a huge impact on my life,” he said. Joe is a member of the millennial generation. He was talking to me about his grandmother who helped raise him.

As leaders, it is our responsibility to do the hard things the right way. Having empathy for others does not make us weak.

How often do we stop to consider the effects of our words, attitude or behavior on others?

Trust seems to be a rare commodity these days. The truth is, we all fail from time to time in this area. But realizing our mistake and owning it goes a long way toward building trust.