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My entire career, I've always felt that being an empathetic leader was detrimental to my success. I've known so many founders (real and in movies) who are ruthless, who yell and make people cry, & who have successful companies (I thought it was because of that). 1/6
There weren't too many examples of successful empathetic leaders who espouse the conscious leadership philosophy, so I always thought what I now know are my best qualities were actually weaknesses, and I sought to be "meaner" to get that same startup trajectory I'd seen. 2/6
But after working with great folks like @sonofsarah, I realized a fundamental truth: the founders with fickle tempers, and crying closets, who see numbers instead of people, are successful IN SPITE of those things, not BECAUSE of them. 3/6
My natural tendency is to care about people, treat them well, & coach them into success - this is my superpower! So lately, I've leaned in & turns out: you can be a leader who doesn't yell/berate people; who is kind/empathetic but also fair and who expects accountability. 4/6
We had our biggest growth year at @WillfulWills, and I don't think I yelled once (although @mattmcfad may say otherwise 
). We have an almost perfect retention rate, & I truly believe people want to help us grow because they know @kevinoulds & I genuinely care about them. 5/6
). We have an almost perfect retention rate, & I truly believe people want to help us grow because they know @kevinoulds & I genuinely care about them. 5/6
So a friendly reminder to all the leaders who, like me, thought you have to lean out of caring and lean into being Mark in The Social Network: many founders have to force themselves to CARE about their people. If you naturally do, own it & make it your superpower. 6/6
