
Episode 00
A CONVERSATION WITH TWO LEADERS
TWO LEADERS
Recently I got to see some company drama.
A company I invested in had some problems going on, which meant I had to attend a couple meetings as they sorted it out. As I watched, I noticed something interesting.
This firm’s two leaders (who were also the reason for the drama) both acted and thought almost exactly the same way—but for some reason, all of the employees were nice and supportive to one, and cruel and harsh to the other.
Watching this blew me away. Literally every employee would cut the first leader so much slack. When someone would complain about him, someone else would stand up for him. If he made a mistake, everyone was gracious and let him fix it.
But the second leader, even though he literally had the same ideas, business strategies, and management styles as the first leader (as far as I could tell), would always get blasted by his employees. They would get upset and riled up at him if he made a mistake or asked them to do something, and there was only bad talk behind his back.
So why did the employees have so much compassion for one and not the other?
It’s hard to explain without being in the room physically with them, but the biggest difference came down to the fact that the first was sincere and the second wasn’t.
Even though both would apologize for mistakes, only the first felt like he meant it. Even though they would both give directions, the first felt supportive, while the other felt demanding.
Although the difference between the two was only miniscule, the way that they made others feel when they led them compounded over time into big support for one, and a big problem for the other.
Humans are incredible at sensing insincerity. The greatest leaders in my life were all self-confident and secure enough to admit mistakes, apologize, and try to be better—and meant it.
Anyone who puts in the work to develop these traits often do incredible things. It may seem like a difficult skillset to develop, but in reality the formula is pretty simple: Just be honest—even if it’s in a way others don’t like.
People would rather take a difficult yet honest leader over a nice but insincere person.
