Where leaders fail at being leaders, time and time again.

I've spent the last 22 years listening to employees tell me how they are feeling and what's going wrong (and right) with their jobs. I've had hundreds, if not thousands, of conversations where people have been so frustrated in their roles that they've broken down and burst into tears. I've even had people submit their resignations to me while they were telling me how horrible their jobs are. So when I tell you that I've been able to boil down all their frustrations into a singular reason that leaders fail at being leaders, it's the truth.

It's so important, it deserves to be in big font for the people in the back 👇

Leaders fail at being leaders when they listen to an employee's concerns and do nothing about them. It's that simple.

It's really easy to pose as an amazing leader by getting on 1 on 1 calls with your employees and asking them how they feel, but the true leadership comes after that conversation, when you decide to take the extra steps to actually address their concerns. That's when you become a manager that your employees will admire and trust. People will beat down the door to work under you. They'll follow you if you move to another company. I know this because I've seen it happen time after time.

Many times, I'll speak with leaders who have high attrition on their teams, and when I give them this advice, they say "I don't have any power to change these, things. I'm only a lower level manager." That's the biggest copout, and we all know it. As a leader, you have a voice and if you're not going to use it, you're in the wrong role.

Speak up. Escalate issues to your manager. And if that doesn't work, keep demanding the issues be escalated all the way up the chain until someone who has the power to fix those issues. That's your job, and employees are counting on you to be their biggest advocate.

It's literally that simple.