What does great leadership look like?

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Its a great story, I had experienced similar situation . I was invited as a chief guest for an annul function at a management institute and was asked to deliver lecture on WTO and its treaties just an evening before the function. I requested my boss who was at London. He immediately supported me to go to improve self branding and company's brand and send me a presentation on WTO to understand and deliver next day. A wonder problem solver and motivator.

One simple thing a leader can do is give you their full attention. I had one manager who always stopped what he was doing on the computer and focused on me when I entered his office. Sounds simple, but it goes a along way.

Dale Rose, Ph.D. --loved your story! Yours is a lot better than my spaghetti-dripping boss . . . We’ve all worked under people who thought they were great leaders but . . . Several decades ago, I started my career selling ad space. To be kind, my boss lacked social graces. His 1980’s moustache hung unevenly over his upper lip and raggedly touched the middle of his lower lip. Unconsciously, his tongue darted out and licked it. His glasses were taped at the hinge. His teeth often revealed what he had for breakfast. I always wondered how Bob had earned his position. Shortly after I began with the newspaper, I arranged to have lunch with the biggest potential client the paper would have ever had—Bart. Bart said, “I know who your boss is, and do not bring him to lunch. I’ll work with you, but not with him.” I assured him I would honor his request. Bart and I went on our business lunch. Both of us looked up in disbelief as Bob walked in. Here he came, trotting across the restaurant, arriving with a look of victory at our table. Bart and I looked at each other with unspoken questions. Uninvited, Bob pulled out a chair and sat with an encrusted smile and dirty glasses. He loudly hailed the waitress: “Hey! Add the spaghetti and meatballs to this order!” He turned his attention back to both of us and added, “Hey, Carmen—I saw on your schedule you’d be here and so I thought I’d pop in in case Bart has any questions!” Bart added, “So far, she understands well, Bob. You and I do, too.” As Bob began to suck up his spaghetti noodles, he splashed tomato sauce on his tie. Unbelievably, his sweater vest was on inside out. He occupied the conversation so neither Bart nor I could get a word in edgewise. Meatball remnants clung desperately from the fringe of his moustache. Bart and I stared in disbelief. We tried to keep our heads down so our eyes would not be drawn to the noodle-sucking scene. As Bob chewed, he talked. We had see-food that day, and it was revolting. Bob directed his attention to Bart, “Hey, sooooo, we’uns tried to do buz-ness with you bu-fore, but whad-da-we haf’ tuh do t’ get your buz-ness this time?” Bart responded, “Thanks, Bob. I’d like to have one point of contact, and that’ll be Carmen. I’ll buy as long as you let her take care of my account. She’s got this. And she understands my business with the supply chain issues and ad scheduling because of them.” Bob said, “Aww, she’s new and dud-n’t know wha’ she’s doin’!” And he poked me on the arm and said, “Ain’t that right?” Bart said, “Well, she took the time to learn my business. She got me to this lunch. You never did. Oh, and by the way, there’s a dry cleaner next door for your tie and your sweater vest is inside out, Bob.” Bart and I had a great business relationship. He understood my dilemma and was direct with Bob if he felt as though Bob encroached on his business needs. Bob learned quickly that if he wanted the extra boost of the largest client, then he’d have to support his salespeople, and avoid thinking he was the best because of his title. This has stuck with me over the years. As a boss, I must trust my teammates. I must help them and allow them to fail forward, supporting them as they move forward in productivity. As a leader, I am the leader based only the willingness of my teammates. I also learned that taking the time to really invest in potential clients’ businesses, their concerns, and honoring their reasonable requests is paramount to building trust and rapport. From Bart, I also learned that it is fine to be direct but polite with establishing definite boundaries.

I have been blessed with a number of really good supervisors and #mentors. One of my favorite anecdotes that I remind myself of often comes from my former boss when I worked at a financial communications firm on Wall Street. When he would see me become nervous about anything having to do with work, he would simply say "things could always be worse." Considering he is a #MarineCorps veteran who was part of the first wave of United States troops in Iraq in response to 9/11, I always knew (and know) he was right. That phrase always helped/helps to put life and work into perspective.