Daily Leadership Thought #151 – It’s All About Relationships
The quality of our relationships largely defines the quality of our life.
No matter who you are or what you do, your success in life will depend to varying degrees on the actions and behaviors of other people. Correspondingly, the smartest or most talented people in organizations and societies don’t always end up with the greatest accomplishments or economic rewards. Humility will always prevail over arrogance in your dealings with others. No one has a monopoly on clever ideas. Any worthwhile idea requires commitment and execution. This is why mediocre or average ideas, when well-executed, will often outperform better ideas that lack sufficient support. People must WANT to help you and see it in their best interest to do so.
Sadly, I’ve watched many promising careers derailed by individuals who have limited emotional intelligence. They feel that they are successful despite other people, not because of them. As they strive to fulfil their vision of what’s right, they often resort to micromanaging, or worse, denigration. They are regularly of the belief that you “whip the horse to the finish line” rather than build a relationship based on common goals, mutual respect, and support. Eventually, you start to hear a lot of rationalizations as their dreams begin to falter and careers stall. Unfortunately, the safety net of healthy, supportive relationships isn’t there for them when they fall.
Whether it’s at work or at home, we should all strive to cultivate friendships and support one another along the way. The road can get rocky at times, and you want to have others there to catch you if you stumble or fall. You’ll also need their helping hands and shoulders to stabilize you as you climb the next rung up the ladder. Needlessly burning bridges on your journey makes no sense whatsoever. We all need as many points of entry to success and happiness as possible, and the best route isn’t always so clear. Relationships help put positive guardrails along the path.
It is our common humanity that binds us together. Families, friends, companies, communities, and nations will either thrive or struggle based on their understanding of this fact. Everyone wants to feel valued. Everyone wants to have a sense of self-respect. We all like to be part of something bigger than ourselves. Few joys compare to playing a role in helping someone else achieve more than they believed possible and in building their own sense of self-worth. People will gladly follow and/or support another person who they believe has their best interests at heart. And the question you must ask yourself is, “Why wouldn’t you…?”
As you navigate life and work, I encourage you to seek the good in others. Don’t rush to judgment. Share the credit and shoulder the blame. Be there for people when they need you. Offer a helping hand whenever you can. Strive to build high-quality, long-term relationships, and good things WILL happen.
Related articles
- Emotional Intelligence and Leadership – Do We have a problem? (procentus.wordpress.com)
- The three most important things in Leadership are … (melisagillis.wordpress.com)
- Leadership Secret Two: A Leader’s Edge in Uncertain Times (genesisnanotech.wordpress.com)
- Leadership is all about meaningful relationships (brickseller.wordpress.com)
- Is your EQ as high as your IQ? (theorganizedexecutiveblog.com)
