An executive recently complained to the superior of a fellow executive in the same company that Bob, not his real name, was often insubordinate, sat on people’s desks, flexed his muscles, and was a know-it-all. Bob’s boss replied, “Bob’s OK, he’s just weird.” The executive, a client of mine, relaying this story to me felt confused because she saw this person as being condescending, but yet couldn’t understand why she felt that way and so blamed herself. When I asked this executive if she would let her son speak to her that way, she replied, “Good grief, no!” Why is this situation any different?

It just so happens that my client has her eyes on the CEO position when the current CEO retires in a few years. If Bob’s behavior is allowed to continue, do you think he will stop just because this person is now the CEO? Bob will take great pride in his ability to talk to such a superior in this manner, belittle the now CEO, behind her back of course, and generally help lace the organization’s culture with this condescending behavior company wide. The behavior now becomes accepted and the norm. What’s a budding CEO to do?

Those on executive teams often have goals and ambitions to be the CEO of the organization. You may be such an individual. Once a speaker colleague was trying to decide what to speak about to a group. She made this comment, “I don’t know if these people even have dreams.” My head spun around about 360⁰. What? Everyone has dreams. But even some executives will sell their own teammates short thinking that they are the only one on the team with the CEO dream. Nothing could be further from the truth. This is dangerous territory. Why?

When considering that you are the only one with ambitious goals, you may well have slumped into complacency not to mention being a bone head. Sorry, it had to be said. This type of thinking tells me that both you and my colleague have no empathy for or are not reading the pulse of others, even the ones on your own team. Everyone has dreams of some sort. Maybe they aren’t the dream of becoming a CEO, but they may want to use their position to obtain other dreams. If you find yourself with these types of thoughts, here are some ideas to help get you back on track.

Many organizations implement leadership development programs. Often times these are part of a succession plan. This is one face of leadership. This is the “younger” face of leadership if you will. This is the face belonging to those who are ambitious and want to climb the corporate ladder, but who still need skill building training, activities, and additional experience. These programs often consist of topics such as:

• Communication
• Handling Difficult Situations
• Coaching/Counseling and Mentoring
• Disciplinary Challenges
• Legal Issues Such as Sexual Harassment and Discrimination
• Leaderships Skills
• Performance Management
• Project Management
• Motivating Employees
• Budget and Finance

Everyone has a poor attitude or bad day once in a while. Unfortunately, there are those whose bad attitude permeates their very being. Bad attitudes can be for a number of reasons.

 - Victim thinking
- Some find it difficult to move beyond major disappointments in life.
- An induvial may be clinically depressed.
- Others think the world owes them a living and can’t understand why everything in life is so difficult.
- Some people are grudge holders for whatever cause or reason
- Many people find change more difficult than others.

As a leader, are these your fault? Certainly not. As a leader are you the one who has to deal with these attitudes? Yes, but maybe not in the way you may think.