Blame It On Your First Boss: Rebooting Your Leadership Style

As busy professionals, we often have a singular focus–racing ahead to meet our ambitious goals. But, have you ever stopped to consider how your first boss or the pace of your initial job might still be influencing your leadership style?

Your first stint at work is like the opening chapter of your professional narrative. It's a sandbox where you shape your work ethic, learn to navigate the corporate landscape, and most importantly, get your first taste of leadership. These impressions, much like our earliest childhood experiences, can leave a lasting impact.

While we've all grown and evolved since then, research tells us these early impressions can subconsciously shape our behavior. Behavioral psychology terms this 'imprinting,' a phase of life when we are highly susceptible to learning certain behaviors. Sounds familiar, right? Remember when your first boss demanded precision and speed, and now you are mirroring those demands.

So, how do you break free from these ingrained patterns and enhance your leadership style? Here are five science-backed steps to guide you:

1. 'Rewind & Replay': As an executive, take time for reflective thinking. Recall your first professional experiences, and identify any habits or attitudes you may have picked up. This process stimulates the prefrontal cortex of your brain responsible for self-awareness and decision making.

2. 'Reframe Your Narrative': Cognitive reappraisal, a technique from behavioral psychology, can help you reinterpret your early experiences. Think of it as altering the lighting in a room to change how things appear. Did your first boss have a dismissive attitude? Reframe it: you learned resilience.

3. 'Stay Grounded': Adopt mindfulness techniques such as breath awareness, visualizations, observing thoughts and feelings and body scanning. Mindfulness has been shown to improve emotional intelligence by modulating the amygdala's (the emotion center of your brain) response to stress. This is analogous to upgrading your system's software to improve performance.

4. 'Change to Create': Our brains have a fantastic ability called neuroplasticity–forming new neural connections throughout life. By consciously adopting new leadership styles, we are leveraging neuroplasticity to shake off past patterns. Think of it as paving new routes on your leadership journey.

5. 'The Feedback Loop': Finally, gather feedback from your team and implement changes. This not only builds trust, but it also aids in 'behavioral conditioning,' reinforcing positive leadership habits.

Consider a real-life example: You're a leader in a fast-paced industry, always rushing to meet deadlines because these habits were instilled in you at your first job.? Now, errors are creeping in, and your team is burning out. Applying the above steps, you recognize this pattern (Rewind & Replay), understand the need for a balanced approach (Reframe Your Narrative), incorporate mindful practices to manage stress (Stay Grounded), explore new methods to manage timelines (Change to Create), and finally, welcome team suggestions to improve the process (The Feedback Loop).

Remember, the experiences from our first job, like the final frame of a movie, leave a lasting impression but don't necessarily dictate the sequel. Apply these five steps and take control of your leadership journey! Because, as a leader, you're not just a character in your professional story, but also its author.