You Are Doing It Wrong! Stop Managing and Start Leading
Leadership is the most important trait in a good business owner. You must have the ability to create a culture and core values that your employees trust and respect. In order to be a successful leader, you must use both intrapersonal and interpersonal skills to lead your team, customers and employees.
The book’s core message is that while leadership can be learned, it must be practiced. It encourages leaders to put trust in their employees, because they have the ability to do great things if given the right tools and encouragement. The main concepts introduced in this book include emotional intelligence, hope, humility, and empathy. The author emphasizes that if leaders focus on these traits both inside themselves and with their work teams and clients, they will be able to help their businesses grow and maximize their potential.
Purchase You Are Doing It Wrong!
Book Excerpt
Pages 39-40, Chapter My Why
Managers, not leaders, are the ones who know everything. Managers, people who are concerned about their titles, and authoritarians have the impression that they must be in complete control and know everything. They will bullshit their way through their professional lives because they are driven by an internal belief that they must be the most intelligent person on the team. There is simply too much information in the world for someone to be aware of everything. Those in positions of leadership today must recognize that the days of knowing everything and being an expert at everything are long gone. It is necessary for leaders to surround themselves with talented people in order to conquer and divide their workloads. And in order to learn, you must surround yourself with individuals who are wiser than you.
You have to take risks to learn. You can’t expect to succeed without taking some chances along the way. While it’s okay to feel nervous or afraid, it’s important not to let those feelings keep you from moving forward. When you feel like giving up, remind yourself that losing is only temporary while victory is permanent.
Bonus! When viewed through the correct lens of life, learning can be viewed as a type of appreciation. On a daily basis, we are given new learning chances. Take advantage of every minute and any and all opportunities to grow and learn in your professional setting. It could be through your day-to-day experiences or something more formal, such as training to advance your professional job. Also, your desire to learn about new initiatives or duties could be an indicator of your success. If you take advantage of the opportunities for learning and improvement that are available to you, the possibilities are unlimited. This allows you to remain interested and engaged in your work while also providing you with an opportunity to remain motivated in your job.
About the Author, Richard Levene
Richard T. Levene is the founder of Dignity Leadership Consulting, a consulting firm that helps individuals, teams and organizations build and improve their cultures by developing core leadership 
skills. He holds a Master’s of Science in Leadership & Change from St. Edward’s University in Austin, TX, as well as a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Saint John’s University (MN).
Rich has spent the last few years utilizing behavior assessment tools to assist organizations to enhance their performance through effective people development. His experience comes from working with auto finance lenders, wholesale business-to-business companies, and clients of Dignity Leadership Consulting.
His primary focus is on using his wide background in operations to help clients move past the traditional management paradigm of “telling” and “fixing” into one of “leading,” where leaders create environments for success by developing core leadership skills.
Rich is also the host of the Dignity Leadership Live podcast, where he discusses current events through a leadership lens and offers tips for success in our ever-changing world. He believes that we can all find ways to grow our businesses and ourselves by putting people first while keeping our bottom line in mind.
