The Danger of People-Pleasing in the Current Crisis

5 ways trying to please everyone is hurting your leadership

So, you probably want people to like you and your leadership. Who doesn’t?

If we’re honest with each other, most of us in leadership prefer to be liked (rather than not liked). That’s natural, and it’s not entirely unhealthy.

But, so many leaders would also quietly admit that, deep down, they’re people pleasers.

People pleasers usually evaluate their leadership by how popular their decisions are. That’s not great leadership in the best of times.

Often, the right decision isn’t the popular decision. Doing what’s best for people isn’t always doing what’s popular with people. Anyone who’s parented for more than 10 minutes understands that tension.

Throw a crisis into the mix, particularly a crisis as deep and pervasive as the one we’re in right now, and it makes people-pleasing leadership even less effective than it normally is. Read More