What Is The Worse Quality In A Leader

Ideas for today, tomorrow, and forever

What Is The Worse Quality In A Leader?

As a leader in your business, you are required to posses many qualities.

Those qualities will suggest to others whether or not you are a person with whom they can find affinity and will chose to follow.

There are many qualities that make you attractive to others.

And on the contrary, there are many qualities that you can posses that will cause dissonance, as well.

According to Brent Cole, the author of "How To Win Friends & Influence People In The Digital Age", he believes that if you ask followers the question, "What is the worse quality in a leader?", the answer would be…

"the quality of taking credit when things go well and dishing out blame when things go wrong".

We all know this so well…

We experience these very acts either on the receiving end or the one doing the blaming, oh so often.

So how do you change that quality?

How do you become the person that can either give or share the credit when things are great and take the blame when things aren't going so well?

First you must ask yourself what is it about you, that you need confirmation in what you do.

Why, as a grown ass woman or man, do you need to feel validated?

You are the one that people are looking up to so it is your duty to validate your followers before receiving that validation for yourself.

Don't get me wrong, we all like to be appreciated for what we do, but you can accomplish that appreciation more if you did not boast about what you did, or worse, didn't do.

Allow others to give you the credit when they feel necessary.

And when things go wrong, be the first to admit your part in that and allow others to follow your lead.

It's a one edge sword.

If you take all the credit, you will be looked down on, but if you take blame you will be praised.

Too often we take the other road because we look at our own needs.

It takes a special kind of person to not point the blame towards others.

This is because it is a habit that we get as children.

No one wants to get punished so you are quick to point the finger at the person that did the wrong doing.

But at some point in your life, you have to outgrow this bad habit.

You have to learn to either take blame in your part, empathize with the one who made the mistake, or say nothing at all and come up with the solution to right the wrong.

In the book I mentioned above, Brent uses a great analogy about the professional Venezuelan baseball player, Armando Galarraga.

If you don't know baseball, to be able to pitch a perfect game is the infinite highlight of a pitcher's career.

Armando was on the verge of being one of the very few to experience that accomplishment.

Playing for the Detroit Tigers in 2010, he had pitched 26 straight outs. Then up came his 27th batter…

The batter hit a ground ball, Armando ran to cover first base as the first baseman scooped up the ball and threw it to Armando before the runner got to the base.

Armando, the team and the entire crowd started cheering, but there was one problem…

The umpire, Jim Joyce, waved his arms and yelled "Safe!".

Everyone was upset. Boos from the crowd ensued.

Once the game was over, everyone was still shocked at the call.

The umpire, however, went to see the footage of the career changing call.

After seeing that the runner was, in fact, out, he went to Armando, apologized by saying "Lo siento", and gave him a hug.

I'm certain his heart was heavy knowing that he destroyed the dreams of this pitcher who will never pitch a game like that again.

Empathizing with the umpire, Armando accepted his apology and in every interview he expressed that "nobody's perfect".

In the beginning before viewing the tape, the pitcher was telling people that maybe the runner was indeed out and that he [Armando himself] may have been clouded by the excitement of the game.

But after the tape viewing, he still chose the high road.

He could have easily yelled at the umpire and cursed him for taking his glory…

Instead, he chose to put himself in the umpire's shoes.

How would he feel if it were him who made that drastic call?

Think about it, you know everyone in Venezuela will remember that umpire for making that horrific call.

And on top of that, the guilt that he will live with forever, for making that call.

The next game that this pitcher and that umpire met, they hugged at the beginning of the game near the mound.

Everyone cheered for the both of them.

So two things were taught by these two leaders...

One, most umpires never apologize for making bad calls during games because it happens so often.

They usually leave with the "I'm right and there's nothing you can do about it" or "If I'm wrong, oh well" approach.

In this case, Jim Joyce chose to be a better ump and person, and admit to the pitcher that he was wrong and he was sorry for it.

Two, most people in that situation would have blasted that ump as soon as the call was made.

They would have been screaming in the umpire's face and a fight may have broken out.

The pitcher would have then used the media to insult the umpire digging in deep about how wrong the ump was.

But instead, Armando chose empathy and grace, putting himself in the umpire's shoes and accepting his apology.

As a result, Armando and Jim have more fame and notoriety for their approach in the situation, probably more so had Armando pitched a perfect game.

It is so very easy to point fingers when things go wrong and look for credit when things are right, but it is up to a good leader to display higher qualities.

Allow others to perform and give them the credit, even if your hands were all over the accomplishment.

When things go wrong, put yourself in others' shoes and think of ways to make them feel okay with what went wrong and show how to avoid that blunder in the future.

Doing these things will, indeed, bring you credit in other forms that you will not be able to imagine.

• If you would like to learn more about how to be a leader and make money by

influencing others than visit my blog at Imtrulyready.com

•