Who put me in charge?

Last Updated on September 30, 2010 by Dave Farquhar

I just had to say no to someone. I didn’t want to say no. But the timing wasn’t right for everyone else. I’ve got someone here with some leadership ability but we’re going to have to sit on it for a little while longer. I don’t like that much. The other person doing the waiting really doesn’t like that much.
I think I liked things better when I had a mentor, and my mentor was the one who made the decisions and delivered the bad news. Now I don’t have a mentor, I still don’t make the decisions (because I refuse to unilaterally make decisions that affect dozens of people just because some outsider decided it would be a good idea to make me a de facto leader), and I deliver the bad news.

I like my Washington-style approach of getting tons of conflicting opinions, sorting through them, and then trusting that I have more wisdom than a garden-variety guinea pig and calling it a decision. It empowers people and it minimizes my lunkhead moves. It’s not the best approach for everyone but it works well for me. So I won’t change that.

I think I need a mentor, and the first thing I want to learn from that mentor is how to deliver bad news.

If you found this post informative or helpful, please share it!