Recently I’ve been thinking about mistakes. My own.

I’ve been reflecting on leadership and watching the members of the JB Ashtin team bloom into even better leaders. Thanks somewhat to our leadership development efforts, the people already in key roles here are growing further, and the entire team is showing a heightened awareness of how to be bigger and better leaders.

These reflections prompted me to give some thought to my own successes as a leader… and my failures.

I’ve made numerous mistakes over my career, but I’ll share only a few. Maybe you can relate to a couple.

Mistake #1, and what I’ve learned.

I used to believe that people are either born with leadership skills, or they’re not. Wisdom comes with age and learning and, now I know this of course isn’t the case. We now give everyone at JB Ashtin a chance to lead, and it’s amazing to watch members of our team lead well. I now know that everyone can lead if they have the desire to do so, and the willingness to learn.

And the company-wide benefit? More leadership from everyone equals more success all around.

Mistake #2, and what I’ve learned.

Passive-aggressive responses are not the way to get the best out of people. In stressful times, I could be a bit passive aggressive. When things weren’t going well, or when I was unsure about something, I would sometimes hide behind attitude or sarcasm or indirection. (Unfortunately, I fight against my sarcasm every day). Not pretty, I know, but I own it.

I learned that giving intentional, productive feedback, or directly asking questions, produces action and direct responses.

I’m much better now – I remind myself to give thoughtful feedback that encourages and empowers, which is better for me and our team.

Mistake #3, and what I’ve learned.

One mistake that embarrasses me every time I think about it is that I used to assume that others working here weren’t as busy as I was, and that they should work the way I do, and so I wanted immediate responses. Immediate such as, by the end of this sentence. (Oh, the shame)

Clearly, I had trust issues.

I want to stress had, because now they’re gone. What wiped them away? Being willing to receive feedback from my peers, and ironically, COVID.

During COVID, all of us had to work-from-home. For more than a year, with no one in the office, I now had to trust that everyone was doing what was needed. What was the result? Only our most productive year ever.

How I got here

Now that I’ve emerged into the light, what brought me to the better place?

• Leaning on my leadership team — and learning anew just how much support they give to me and to each other.
• Reading great business books. “Radical Candor” by Kim Scott held a mirror up to my passive-aggressiveness. Patrick Lencioni (recommended!) reminded me to equip people for success. And Stephen M. R. Covey motivated me to trust and inspire.
• Reminding myself that it’s better to focus on people’s potential rather than their “problems.” Everyone has value and is capable of growth; great leaders meet people where they are but inspire them to do more than they think they can.

No doubt I’ll do more reflection over the holidays. One thing I know for sure: Now that I’m done making these mistakes, I’m sure I’ll make new ones. That’s part of learning and growing.