When I was in college (the first time, that is a different story), I worked multiple part time jobs. Several times I worked for small businesses, often directly with the owner. When I moved into the corporate space, I worked under a wide variety of bosses with vastly different levels of competence. In the halls of higher ed, I worked for and with some amazing, intelligent people who were not always the best at managing conflict or people. Working in government, I saw leaders who were often stymied by outdated and clunky systems but also saw them find creative ways to still get the job done within the rules.

I watched business owners try to do it all themselves. I watched them refusing to hire people, even when they were losing out on sales or marketing opportunities because they could not be all places at once. I watched some of them give away too much for free, and I saw some of them try to extract every dollar they could from a sale, even if it wasn’t a good decision for the customer.

During my time in the corporate world, I watched the companies I worked for create fear-based urgency to sell products that the majority of their customers did not need. I saw them create subscription model services, claiming the customer ‘needed’ them to come back again and again. They did this by not solving the problem the first time, instead addressing the surface of the problem and allowing the underlying issues to continue so they could sell more services.

I also saw companies, large and small, fit the customer to the company’s solution, instead of offering the solution the customer needed. Instead of asking the right questions (or any at all sometimes) the company touted their pre-packaged solutions as the cure for whatever was ailing them.

I have seen compliance done well and done poorly. I have seen organizations go through massive change smoothly and I have seen it done really, really badly.

The best leaders took the time to really understand the nature of the problem and the systems they were working inside. They asked for input, listened, and were open to being told they might be wrong. They cared about being ethical with their staff and their customers and had a keen sense of fairness.

I can look back at every job I have held and remember the good leaders. I also clearly remember the ones who were awful at leading.

How will you be remembered?