It was the end of my senior year at college. It was time for me to pack all of my belongings into my station wagon before making the long drive home.
As I started packing, I remembered my roommate and his girlfriend were still around. With all three of us, moving out would take no time.
I should ask him for help, I thought.
Yesterday it started raining in the evening. Neither of us had taken a walk, so I asked wife if she would join me for a stroll with our eight-month-old daughter, Macy, despite the rain. When I opened the door to get the umbrella from the car, I realized the rainfall was heavy and almost epic.
A refreshingly strong rain on a warm spring day? A walk wouldn’t work, but this seemed too good to waste.
Now what?
Silent sabotage is the result of two problems by two parties.
The hardheaded leader and the timid team member.
Recently, I’ve been thinking about leaders who are strong and confident and intelligent and well-spoken and hard to argue with. They make decisions quickly and boldly, always moving forward.
But these leaders can be emotionally deflating if they bulldoze right over other people and their opinions when making decisions.
This exposes an important truth.
Someone runs up to you with a microphone and a video camera. They’re doing a quick survey and want to know your answer to a few questions about the future.
You make educated — if not merely bold — predictions about the future. You speak confidently, of course, and the interviewer is apparently satisfied.
I mean, who doesn’t like giving their opinion? What do you have to lose by proudly predicting the future?
Well… credibility and humility, for starters.
