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7 Things Good Bosses Believe
“If you are getting a ton of dumb ideas you’re doing something right,” one of the wisest leaders I’ve ever met said to me. He was a fellow Sergeant in the Marines who had more medals on his chest than some Generals.
He explained to me how a leader must carefully tend the garden of ideas they get from their team if they want the best ones to grow and flourish. The people you lead need to feel safe planting ideas there. If they fear you’ll stomp out their seedlings with ridicule, shame, or insecurity, they’ll just stop planting.
So you tend that team garden and weed out bad ideas with care. You pull them up with soft hands and respect so it doesn’t discourage or offend the person who planted them.
This isn’t kid gloves — this is instilling team ownership in outcomes and enabling the very best ideas to flourish.
He couldn’t be more right.
I’ve applied this concept to many leadership roles over 25 years in military, corporate and volunteer settings and I’ve seen it ring true across the board.
Here are a few more beliefs good bosses seem to have.
