When I first started to express interest in being a manager - way too many years ago - I remember getting small lessons from well-meaning mentors. One that always struck me as odd was the idea that you should maintain a personal distance from your employees. The thinking was that you had to be the boss and make hard decisions, you didn't want any favoritism to come into play or relationships getting in the way of making the right decision.
I suspect that for that time (and before that), this advice made perfect sense.
That isn't the case anymore. It started changing a few years ago and the Covid pandemic accelerated it. Managers can no longer lead by cold hard decision making and keep an emotional distance from others (and from themselves). It requires the ability to connect with others and yourself on an emotional level.
Which is why I like Mr. Bregman's concept of emotional courage - yet dislike it at the same time. I like the idea of courage because being emotionally vulnerable is hard. To do so is courageous.
I dislike it because part of the courage comes from breaking the stereotype of the boss as emotionally distant. It should have never been this way and the fact that we have to overcome this issue annoys me.
This is a good book to help you challenge some of these assumptions and put yourself in the right frame of mind.
Rating: Recommended.
Comments