Ever been an employee on the front line most of, or all your life?
Leaders, do you have any idea what it’s like to spend your career working for people like you?
Your employees complain about you as much as you complain about them being high-maintenance, needy, and whiney. It’s simply a fact of life and any amount of denial is ignorant.
Most leaders are good at never letting their employees see or hear this. And employees are good at keeping their secrets too.
Quite amusing actually, because neither one thinks the other knows.
Maybe we simply learn to tune it out the same way we slowly, steadily tune out our declining health, and fail to ever make transformational changes to reverse the slow, steady, and sure signs.
We medicate ourselves with our work, with our misery, and we flock to people who share our pain and frustration.
When maybe, we should find that emotional strength we found buried deep inside us that was rediscovered in the days following 9/11.
Maybe then we could justify hugging our employees. Maybe then transformational change could begin and a new era of teamwork and respect could have wings of hope.
Dude, not that I remember all of your posts, but…
This may be the most powerful thing I’ve read from you yet!
Thank You! Awesome!
Thank you Craig.
This helps validate my LinkedIn profile. 🙂
Idealist…hug your employees
Realist…hug ends up being labeled sexual assault or harrassment
Pragmatist…”emotional hug” vice a “physical hug” makes the employee feel good without the risk of allegations
Cynical world I live in. Sad but true.
Skip, great insight that is valuable because you identified the challenge. You also nailed the opportunity – hugs can be emotional. They don’t have to be physical.
Maybe it’s a pipe dream to think the world could change so dramatically.
Maybe it’s the only hope we have.
One more thing. The world certainly is cynical. That shouldn’t stop someone for moving forward to the beat of a different drummer.
It would be like giving in, and not exercising, because the world we live in is predominantly overweight.