In all my years in professional practice, the role of business manager and people leader always sneaked up on me. I always considered myself an influencer and peer, never a BOSS. However, perceptions are what matters, and if you are in the “C suite” and have influence on strategy and compensation, that is how many in the organization perceive you.
This McKinsey & Company blog was a great wake up call to making sure that once in a leadership position of any type, you need to constantly and vigilantly seek out the court jester who will be empowered to call you out when the emperor has no clothes, or worse, is insensitive to the perceptions of those around them. Our upcoming Leadership Video Series entry will tackle these difficult issues head on in the era of pandemic zoom interactions.