I often reflect on a conversation from years ago with a former Army boss. It’s foundational to how I understand leadership. He said that being a leader means you have to “Genuinely care.”
This phrase helped me understand all the leaders I’d encountered up to that point. Followers will forgive many shortcomings and failures in their leader, if they believe that they truly care about what happens to them.
If you’ve encountered leaders like this, you know. They might not have made every right decision. But they’d put everything on the line before they let something bad happen to the team.
You can’t fake it. And if you don’t truly care, you need to find a way. It’s not the only thing that matters, and yet, without it, you and your team will never be great.