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In Times of Success  Cocky leaders use the word, me, to describe the reason for the team's success.

Confident leaders see no use in the word, me, to describe reasons for success.

You will hear constant praise for the team as they describe how everyone worked together to make it happen. You will hear no overtones of 'Me' because the leader will be constantly praising the strengths and contributions of every member that played an integral part of the team's success. 

I spent more than four hours  listening in to client support calls at the call center.  I shared headsets with many of the team, moving from desk to desk to speak to the reps. To say they were surprised is an understatement: Many CEOs never visit the call center, and virtually none do it their first afternoon on the job.

Many leaders see their role as directing and giving information, rather than gathering.  There is pressure to “come up with the answer” quickly or risk looking weak.  Too many new leaders believe they’re expected to know the answer without input or guidance. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Without trust, it is very unlikely you will learn the truth on what is really going on in that organization and in the market place. 

…don’t fundamentally believe communication is important. 

but many leaders don’t buy into it as a personal priority

…have forgotten what it’s like to not be the boss.

Your to-do list is filled with low-impact tactical items – I’m not one to make a big difference between leadership and management, but one of the clear differentiators in my mind is that leaders initiate change and managers react to it. If you find your to-do list is filled with low-impact, tactical items that contribute more to the daily operations of the business, then you may be running on autopilot. Your to-do list should be focused on big picture, strategic items that could make significant improvements in your operations.

The autopilot leader easily becomes oblivious to changes occurring around him until the nature of the situation reaches a crises point, forcing the leader to snap back to reality. This happens because the leader was content to react to change rather than initiate it.

You find yourself in reactive mode all the time

We like our leaders to be confident, clear, in control. We take comfort from leaders who have a vision, who are insightful, who know where they are going.

We are not nearly as comfortable with ambiguity. Ambiguity is uncertain. We do not know what is going to happen with ambiguity.

We are not reassured when leaders are ambiguous. We trust them less.