manish kumar

Full stack Web Developer @ Intuit Inc. building products

[David Morris @wdmorrisjr]

Years ago, I worked for a large, multinational company.

Once a year, the CEO would visit our branch.

We prepared for weeks.

Facilities scrubbed. Company values cards on desks. Everyone in their Sunday best.

Nothing he saw was real.

I learned a valuable lesson: everyone lies to leaders.

Today, I’m the one leading a company and I know this rule applies to me.

I was bemoaning this to a friend who said,

This is how telephone poles end up in the middle of the road! No one’s willing to tell the boss he’s missing something.

The feedback I get is skewed, given by employees trying to either:

- Make me happy, or

- Cast them in a positive light

This makes it especially difficult to measure my effectiveness.

When you lead others, you have to learn how to self-evaluate.

Quarterly, I ask myself 5 questions:

Do I still love the people I'm leading?
In 20 years of leading people, I've seen how easy it is to start resenting those I lead. If you look out at the leadership landscape, you see this everywhere.

When you resent people, it gives you license to treat them however you want. You stop developing them. Your relationship becomes functional.

People can be difficult and disappointing. But great leaders fight to keep love at the heart of what they do.

If I want to lead well, I have to start with love.

Are the people I lead willing to admit their mistakes?
Toxic leaders inspire fear. Fear causes people to hide mistakes. Hidden mistakes become repetitive mistakes. Repetitive mistakes sink a business.

If I’m not seeing people raising their hands when they mess up, it means I’ve damaged their trust.

It’s my job to repair it.

Do the people I lead seek my input on things that aren't work-related?

I spent years doing leadership development in a Fortune 500 company.

I asked 1000s of people to describe the best leader they've ever had.

The most common answer: "They cared about me."

If employees are asking for my take on a problem they’re having at home, it’s a sign that our relationship isn’t transactional.

I won’t force my way into their personal lives, but I’ll gladly accept an invitation.

Are the people I lead solving their own problems?
In leadership theory, there’s the concept of the “heroic leader.”

Heroic leaders build organizations that revolve around them. They have the answer to every problem. They are the smartest person in the room.

If the people I lead aren’t solving their own problems, I’ve made myself the focal point.

And that’s the real problem.

Are the people I lead meeting my expectations?
Clear expectations are the core of strong leadership.

If people are consistently failing to meet mine, that means I’m either:

- Surrounded by a bunch of idiots, or

- Failing to define and communicate what I expect.

Leaders assume too much.

People don’t magically know what a good job looks like.

Most problems aren’t performance problems. They’re expectation problems.

***
Leaders rarely get the full truth.

Great leaders know this and develop a regular habit of pausing to question their effectiveness.

If you lead others and aren’t doing that, the telephone pole in the middle of the road is on you.

***
I'm David and I write about being more thoughtful as a spouse, parent, and business leader.

Follow me @wdmorrisjr for more content like this.

If you found this helpful, I'd be grateful if you'd share it with a retweet.

Your engagement encourages me to keep writing!

[Paweł Huryn @PawelHuryn]

Steal my Notion collection of the best 99 PM books.

It took me 1,5 years to curate it.

Categories:

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You can browse recommendations by:

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For every book:

- Related YouTube videos you can watch
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Free link (Notion): https://t.co/scO5ZnMtDf

Hope that helps.

[Ben Tossell @bentossell]

All the best examples of ChatGPT, from OpenAI:

[Julian Shapiro @Julian]

The most interesting thing I learned last year is this mental model for generating world-class writing.

[manish kumar @kManish86]

Multiple flats in Bangalore (Park west project) by @SPREINDIA are in this situation. Years of delays and no accountability shows the apathy towards customers.. Requesting @OfficeRera to take this matter seriously.

[Shapoorji Pallonji Parkwest Home Buyers Forum @HomeParkwest]

Dear @HardeepSPuri @Secretary_MoHUA @CMofKarnataka @OfficeRera Even when project is RERA registered and after extracting 90% money how builder can say they don't have fund to make progress. Is there foul play with Escrow account? Is RERA getting corrupt?

[Santhosh Bhandary @SanthoshBhand15]

@SPREINDIA @ShapoorjiP Time is Running, Better late than ever, Wake up before it get's worst, We @HomeParkwest need our Homes. #Thankyou @KA_HomeBuyers for your support. https://t.co/lY4e4f4Msn

[Kalpesh Bafna @Kalpeshbafna27]

@DHFWKA @BBMPCOMM @BBMPSplHealth @BBMP_Covid19 @BAFBLR Request BBMP to clarify regarding covid restrictions on kids for using swimming pool. Currently only vaccinated people are allowed, since no vaccine is avlbl for kids, based on parents vaccination the kids has to be allowed.

[Bangalore Vaccine Updater @BloreVaccine]

I want to thank @sushizard for the dashboard that he created based on my bot's Tweets :)
https://t.co/MuuNCenQ0N

[Intuit QuickBooks UK @QuickBooksUK]

Hello @monzo customers! You can now connect your account to QuickBooks. Use our new Open Banking connection to bring in your transaction data in real-time so you can get rich cash flow insights to fuel your business. And best of all, no more manual data entry.

[manish kumar @kManish86]

@ryanflorence Recently started using @renovatebot to raise PRs ..

[Chris Evans @chris_evansuk]

My heartfelt thanks go out to all our @QuickBooksUK employees for making our annual #qbgettogether an absolute success. I'm looking forward to another great year!

[Intuit QuickBooks UK @QuickBooksUK]

We're live with our online MTD VAT Drop-in Clinic 🚑. We'll be supporting you over the next two days from 9:30am-12pm with all things MTD. Join the conversation here 👉 https://t.co/2epFoKPI71

[Steven Briginshaw @SteveBriginshaw]

More exciting news!! 🤩🤩🤩 It’s arriving like buses 🚌 🚌

@clarity_hq is now officially an application for @QuickBooks 🎉🥳🍾

Thank you to our amazing team & to the @IntuitDev team for making this possible 🙏🙏

We’re very excited, proud and grateful to be here 🤩😊🙏🚀🚀🚀

[manish kumar @kManish86]

@CoLQueensPark Any update on this please ?

[Michael Austin ⭐️⭐️🌎 @michaeljcaustin]

Just made my way around @QuickBooksUK SmartScan for #MTD. Pretty tasty! 👍

Recommended for VAT registered QBO users.

[manish kumar @kManish86]

Still not been able to find the best and efficient way to manage this sequence ..

[manish kumar @kManish86]

Planning a #vacation with a kid involves #scouting for itineraries, #learning about each city, #drafting a plan, #immersing in each step of plan and finally #booking - all this is itself a month long event ...