“Never separate the life you live from the words you speak.” -- U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone. As a leader, you're also a teacher: both in the leadership-by-example sense and in the instructive sense. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “What you are speaks so loudly, I can't hear what you are saying." Employees learn partly by watching you and partly by receiving instruction. Unless you're a spymaster or a military commander, never ask anyone to do what you aren't willing to do yourself. For example: 1. Arrive early and stay late. Ever had a boss who rolls in at 10, then heads out at 5 after telling everyone to stay late to hit the big deadline? How’d that work out for you? Isn’t that double standard inspiring? Don't ask someone to work long hours if you refuse to. But on the opposite end of the … [Read more...]