I've always had the notion that I could fix everything. When I was a kid, I would take apart my dad's radio and try to put it back together. After spending hours tinkering with wires, nuts and bolts, I successfully assembled the radio only to find two extra screws by my side. I think you know what happened next. Even as I grew up, I've always tried my best to fix everything around me. Whenever my friends had problems, I'd go all out just to try to find the best solutions and ensure the most favorable outcomes. Unfortunately, when it came to my own problems, I never had the will to fix that and usually my life takes its turn for the worst. Being the persistant person I am, I carried over that attitude to my management career. Whenever one of my employees had troubles with something, I'd always jump in and go out of my way to help them. When things don't go the way it's supposed to, I end up feeling dejected. It is a known fact that managers are not qualified to be counselors and, in the U.S., some states actually have laws preventing managers from giving out personal advice. Many managers may feel the same way I do. That feeling that as a manager, you have to save the world! Neither you nor I can do that and coming to terms with that reality seems harder than it sounds. As managers, we are expected to be leaders and as leaders we must always do what is right! Some people may think that favoring people over the organization is the right thing but in my experience it is not. Favoring the company over its people is no better! People create results and results favor the company. It's that simple so what's the solution? A proper balance! Accommodation serves no one any good. Employees who always ask for this will eventually run you dry. When you are all dried up then that's when they leave you for good. Many leaders feel that if they don't accommodate all of their people's needs, they will become unpopular. Well, come to terms with the fact that part of a leader means becoming unpopular because they stood for what's right! If an employee is asking for an accommodation which you know favors no one and could harm the company, then do what's right! You may feel that getting people's gratitude is the way to go but I will tell you this; gratitude is overrated! People never show gratitude anymore. Favoring the gratitude of other people over doing what's right is the worst trap you could ever fall into. If you are a leader, you must do what's right no matter what the cost is. If you have done the right thing, people who berate and criticize you because of this can only make you feel bad about if you give them the permission to do so. Do what's right and don't waste your time fixing things that can't be repaired! This blog was also published on Kaizen Sandbox (www.k-zenzbox.com) Link: http://blog.k-zenzbox.com/2009/09/04/leaders-cant-fix-everything.aspx

Hi, some of you may know that I do occasionally write leadership articles here. It has been months since my last one. I do plan to post a new article here soon but let me invite you to my own blog site which I do update almost daily after work. It's a blog site dedicated to my own journey for self-improvement in career and life. The site is the Kaizen Zandbox or www.k-zenzbox.com. You may or may not agree with what I have written there but those are things I have learned which seem to work for me. Hope to see you there on the road to continuous improvement.

It depends how you define leadership. Nobody is a born CEO or President of a country. But if you define leadership as simply promoting new directions independently of position, then everyone can show some leadership. Still, such leadership is based on youthful rebelliousness, the tendency that some people have more than others to challenge the status quo and to find a better way. The set of traits that make up such rebelliousness are either inborn or acquired early in life.

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