In my lifetime, I've been around a few exceptionally great leaders, and some truly (truly) horrible ones. The majority of the great ones, were from my personal life, be it through school, church, friends, etc. But there were a few exceptions to that, in my professional life. My professional life, has been more of a mixed bag. At times it seems like the folks in leadership positions at most places I've worked, might as well be a bag of trail mix... some are the "fruits" and some are the "nuts" (kidding not kidding).

I've seriously seen the good, the bad, and the ugly, when it comes to leadership in the workplace. But I can truly say that I've learned the most from both the best and worst leaders I've worked with. The worst obviously taught me invaluable lessons on what not to do. While the best opened my eyes up to exactly what to do.

I like to learn from other peoples failures, as well as their successes... so I'm always watching.

As far as the worst goes, I remember working at a company once, where there were literally punches almost thrown during a "staff meeting". I even had to step in and mediate an entire almost throw-down between the company owners, and other staff. I didn't realize what I was getting into when I started working at the company, because there was a pretty good executive who was running everything when I was hired. Coming in, I believed that, the person who hired me was the one in charge and therefore that the company had a good leader at the helm. But in truth, the executive was given power by the owners, only for it to be taken back. At this company there was a point where the work environment got so bad, that people were treating the workplace like it was an episode of Survivor. They would develop alliances and take sides and have these toxic back-stabbing clicks. For myself, I thought it was totally counterproductive to have competition within the organization when it was a company where every position worked in tandem with everyone else to generate more business. In the end, it became like one big face palm to employees who had any form of psychological sanity in them, to keep working there. I had even come to the conclusion that this company was actually pushing out healthy-minded employees, and attracted those as toxic as the organization was.

In the end, there was an entire slew of toxicity that this company had at the core. The person who hired me was great, but couldn't correct a leadership problem as they weren't really the final authority. The owners thrived on chaos, control, and pitting employees against each other. There was even a time when the owners put up a monitoring system to view employees, while the owners were at their house. On top of everything, they decided to hand over their business to a family-member who, if had not been related, wouldn't have been qualified to even work at the company and was highly incompetent.

In this particular situation I learned a few key valuable lessons, about the kind of leader I wouldn't want to ever be. Here's my list...

The kind of leader I learned that I DON'T want to be...

1.) A leader who puts relationships ahead of qualifications and competence

2.) A leader who divides their employee's instead of encouraging a "team" mentality

3.) A leader who leads with fear & suspicion rather than trust & guidance

On the flip side, I can think of a few places I've worked where it was quite the opposite.

In one such place I worked for an employer who was the epitome of success. And not in just one area of life, but this person was successful in both business and their personal life. This person was both competent and admirable. In this working situation, it was an environment where I felt inspired on a daily basis and learned valuable lessons about life & business.

On this team that I worked with, there were some very different perspectives, then in the worst team.

The first was that, this leader actually realized that they were in leadership, being that they were a business owner, and knew that they had a responsibility to be a better leader. Secondly, this leader prioritized the humanity of their workers. Being a worker on this team, employees were treated with respect and dignity and were not just means to production. I remember one time in particular when I was dealing with a difficult and abrupt situation. I called this employer to let them know I wasn't going to be coming in. They didn't grill me, or dig into every detail, they just asked if I was ok and never treated me negatively because of it. In many ways, I always appreciated how this employer didn't try to dig into my personal life, but always gave me respect and dignity, and therefore I could be as open or closed as I felt. Another great experience of this working environment is that the owner truly felt a responsibility to serve their clients to the best of their ability. I remember many times when the owner of this company would go above and beyond for a client, without the client ever even realizing it. When you work for someone like that, you just ultimately gain a respect for them beyond all the other things they do or say.

Finally, the one thing I appreciated in this good leadership environment, was that my employer let me find projects I was passionate about and pursue them. I remember many times how I would conjure up my latest idea, and instead of thinking I was crazy I would have this person's full support. For myself, I always loved giving back to the community. Any chance to do things that were for non-profit organizations always struck a chord in my heart, and every time I came up with an idea, I was encouraged in it.

Overall, in this particular situation I learned a few key valuable lessons, about the kind of leader I would want to be. Here's my list...

The kind of leader I learned that I DO want to be...

1.) A leader who is always trying to be a better boss for myself and my employee's

2.) A leader who acknowledges the humanity in my employee's and treats them with dignity and respect

3.) A leader who serves clients and the community to the best of their ability

4.) A leader who encourages employees passions

In every working situation both good and bad, I believe that there is a lesson to be learned. For myself, I'm thankful for the worst leaders, for teaching me what not to do. But I'm also thankful to the best leaders, for encouraging me to be the best version of myself!