Are You Missing The Plank In Your Eye?

Every time someone subscribes to receive updates from my blog, they should receive an email asking them what the biggest struggle they’re facing today is. I recently had a subscriber respond with an issue most leaders have at some point. 

I shared my thoughts on the topic with them, and they said I should make our conversation a blog post. I hope you will enjoy this interaction made into a cohesive topic about leading others well. 

Man sitting in front of laptop. His hands are thrown up in frustration.

Photo by Headway on Unsplash

Here’s the struggle the reader was facing:

I would say my biggest struggle is mentoring new, younger employees.

At times their level of confidence far exceeds their abilities. In my opinion this contributes to an employee who over simplifies things, over relies on their own abilities to solve a problem, and takes unnecessary risks. This approach can create project delays.

Quotes And Leadership Lessons From Monkey Man

A Reel Leadership Article

My latest book, Reel Leadership, is now available on Amazon. If you love movies and leadership, you will love this book.

Watching the previews for Monkey Man, I had flashbacks to the John Wick movies. It looked like the typical revenge thriller with an Indian twist. The action and adventure had a similar feel to those classic action movies. One of the characters even quips about John Wick in the film.

In Monkey Man, an anonymous man named Kid (Dev Patel) fights in underground battles wearing a monkey mask. This gets him the name Monkey Man. He’s always on the losing end as Tiger (Sharlto Copley) has rigged the fights so Kid will always lose.

Ripped man standing in a ring. He's wearing a monkey mask. Scene from Monkey Man

Kid eventually tires of the endless fights and meager pay. He decides he wants something better. This is when he is introduced to Queenie (Ashwini Kalsekar), a brothel owner. He befriends her and begins to work for her in the kitchen. 

How To Better Manage Your Time As A Leader

I remember being amazed at plate spinners growing up. These men and women would keep plates spinning on poles for an extended amount of time. They wouldn’t fall off but be kept going by the constant movement of the performer. 

Their act looked fun. I wanted to attempt it, but any time I tried to spin something on a pole or my finger, I couldn’t keep it up.

Many leaders feel that way these days. They have so many plates spinning that there’s no time to relax. It’s constant go, go, go.

Busy street scape. Cars are moving and their movement is blurred. Lots of colors. People are standing around the edges.

Photo by Dan Freeman on Unsplash

What if there was a better way? What if you could better manage your time so that you had more time to do things only you can do?

Sounds like a dream, right? It’s not. It’s possible if you apply the time management tips I share in this post.

Emotional Intelligence: The Key To Effective Leadership

When employees leave an organization, it’s typically not the organization they leave. It’s terrible managers or leaders. They’ve become fed up with how they’re treated and their leadership’s lack of emotional intelligence.

It’s why I left one of my jobs.

Emotional Intelligence: The Key To Effective Leadership

My manager became disengaged from his employees. He lacked an emotional awareness of what was happening in the lives of his employees and how those situations impacted the lives of his employees. He also failed to show up with emotional intelligence, trying to scare employees into staying with the organization.

Eventually, he was left with a gutted team, and the employees were left with negative memories of their interaction with him.

His lack of emotional intelligence killed his team. But it doesn’t have to kill yours.

Mental Health America defines Emotional Intelligence as the following:

Celebrating Success And Learning From Failure As A Leader

We experience good times and bad times as a leader. Those good times come from leadership successes and seeing people grow. The bad times? Those are the times we’ve failed to do what we know is right, a project goes south, or we experience an issue with team members.

There’s good news regardless of whether or not you’ve experienced success or failure. You can learn and celebrate both.

Celebrating Success And Learning From Failure As A Leader

We must celebrate success and learn from our failures. It’s how we grow and continue to thrive as leaders. People get excited when they see their good works praised. They grow and thrive when they see how they can learn from their failures.

Think about the times you’ve failed. What happens? You may beat yourself up. You may tell yourself that you never do anything right.