3 Major Leadership Mistakes Everyone (From Intern to Executive) Should Avoid

In undergrad, I was leading a consulting team to provide solutions for a local food bank to retain and recruit volunteers during COVID.

My team and I created a 3-tiered solution. Presentation day arrived and our proposed solutions bombed horribly compared to other teams.

What went wrong? Let’s dive in:

Mistake #1: Check the Ego

In an earlier post, I talked about how my 10-year-old me built the stage for discipline. I felt I had it in the bag this time as well.

Too often, our ego blinds us from other avenues and other ideas. it blinds us to our own stupidity. It was stupid of me to think I had it in the bag.

Then when things go wrong, bad leaders blame their teammates.

As @simonsinek says in his book Leaders Eat Last, when things go wrong, leaders take responsibility. When things go right, the team takes responsibility.

Mistake #2: Tunnel Vision

With enough perspectives I could provide a comprehensive solution, right? Wrong.

Don’t get it confused: Different perspectives are good but it’s far from fully understanding the problem and providing meaningful solutions.

Mistake #3: Losing track of client goals

We presented our solution to the food bank.

They loved it except for one thing. What could they do NOW?

Our solutions covered their long-term, but we forgot a solution they could implement NOW to get & retain volunteers.

As a leader I thought I knew the client goal of “attracting and retaining volunteers” but I had forgotten the word Now.

In hindsight, it’s so obvious of a mistake and embarrassing that even happened.

Read this post and more on my Typeshare Social Blog