Leadership Is More Than the Skill You Use

Most people think leadership is only what you know how to do: run a meeting, give feedback, manage priorities, make decisions.

But when things get difficult, the skill is only part of it.

Your impatience comes with you. Your insecurities come with you. Your need to be right comes with you. Your desire to be in control comes with you.

That’s why two leaders can handle the same situation and create very different experiences.

One gives feedback to support growth. Another gives feedback because they’re annoyed and want their own irritation to end. One asks questions because they genuinely want to understand. Another asks questions because they want to prove they already know the answer.

The action can look the same from the outside. The impact is not the same for the team.

Skills matter, but so does the person using them. If you don’t understand what you bring into the room, your team will eventually absorb the cost by working around it.