REVIEWS & OPINIONS
Letters Leaders inspire If you’re in leadership for the power and prestige, please step aside, because your time has passed. Today’s best leaders listen intently, serve those around them, and enable people to achieve great things without consideration for who gets the credit. In my leadership journey over the last 20+ years, one of my biggest points of pride has been seeing former employees advance to
become leaders in their own right—some as senior managers and executives, others as entrepreneurs and business owners. I’ve been blessed to work with so many talented and hard-working individuals; they are largely responsible for any success I’ve had. That’s why I’ve never taken it personally when someone left my team to spread their wings in new ways. My hope is that our time together helped them in their journey, and that they will return the favor to those they lead. Mike Dame Roanoke
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Field / On Tap from Page 40
results—and then keeps everything the same. Don’t ask for suggestions if you never really ever intended to take them. Such a ploy is disrespectful and ultimately damaging to the workplace and mission. Nothing takes the heart out of a person striving to perform than a “leader” who doesn’t value the input. The best way to sabotage morale is to devalue contribution. I’ve had “leaders” who wasted hours,
weeks, or months of work only to leave it all incomplete; “leaders” who sidelined my department with activities that took all of us from essential operations; and “leaders” who ignored new, promising and proven methods just to preserve their tired, old kingdoms. Doing those things, is the opposite of leadership. I hope you get to associate with good leaders (like I have). May the bad leaders you’re sure to encounter be far and few between.
vbFRONT.com / DECEMBER 2020 u
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