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<v Speaker 1>Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of

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<v Speaker 1>performance through strong human relations, team building, and golachieving. This

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<v Speaker 1>is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host Paul

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<v Speaker 1>Fello Aledo.

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<v Speaker 2>Hello everyone, and welcome to the seven Minute Leadership Podcast.

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<v Speaker 2>It's episode two oh four and today I have a

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<v Speaker 2>short leadership story for you. Let me tell you about

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<v Speaker 2>a leader named Ellen. She was the kind of boss

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<v Speaker 2>people either loved or feared. There was no in between.

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<v Speaker 2>Ellen prided herself on keeping everything under control at Horizon Tech,

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<v Speaker 2>a bustling company in the middle of a high stakes merger.

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<v Speaker 2>Her motto no surprises. That's why it rattled her when

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<v Speaker 2>her assistant Tom slipped the cryptic sticky note onto her

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<v Speaker 2>desk one Thursday afternoon. It read, you need to check

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<v Speaker 2>your office after hours alone. Ellen frowned. Tom wasn't the

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<v Speaker 2>type for jokes. In his expression when he handed it

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<v Speaker 2>to her, a mix of guilt and urgency was unsettling.

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<v Speaker 2>At seven pm, after everyone had gone home, Ellen walked

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<v Speaker 2>into her office. It was eerily quiet, except for the

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<v Speaker 2>faint hum of the HVAC system. Her office looked just

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<v Speaker 2>as it always did, immaculate, organized and utterly ordinary. She sighed,

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<v Speaker 2>maybe Tom was losing it. Then she noticed something odd.

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<v Speaker 2>Her leadership binder, where she meticulously tracked every team member's progress, meetings,

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<v Speaker 2>and goals, was slightly ajar. Ellen never left it like that.

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<v Speaker 2>She opened it and there it was a note in

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<v Speaker 2>handwriting that wasn't hers. It simply said, leadership isn't about control,

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<v Speaker 2>It's about trust. Ask yourself who you're really leading. Ellen

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<v Speaker 2>felt her pulse quicken. She flipped through the pages. Whoever

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<v Speaker 2>had written the note had left comments throughout the barn.

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<v Speaker 2>On the page detailing her latest feedback to her team,

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<v Speaker 2>someone had scrawled this isn't coaching, its criticism, and under

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<v Speaker 2>her notes from a recent one on one with a

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<v Speaker 2>struggling team member, did you really listen? And next to

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<v Speaker 2>her plan for the upcoming merger, are you leading them

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<v Speaker 2>or managing them? Her mind raised? Who could have done this? Tom?

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<v Speaker 2>Another employee? Worse were these anonymous criticisms true? The following morning,

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<v Speaker 2>Ellen called Tom into her office. Before she could say

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<v Speaker 2>a word, he blurted out, I didn't write the notes,

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<v Speaker 2>but I left the binder open. He paused, then added,

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<v Speaker 2>I thought you needed to see it. Ellen stared at him, unsure,

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<v Speaker 2>whether to be angry or grateful. That's all I know,

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<v Speaker 2>Tom said, But maybe it's worth thinking about. Ellen spent

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<v Speaker 2>the weekend reflecting. She realized that while she believed she

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<v Speaker 2>was leading her team to success, she had focused so

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<v Speaker 2>much on controlling outcomes that she had lost sight of

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<v Speaker 2>the people the notes who ever wrote them, We're right,

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<v Speaker 2>leadership wasn't about micromanaging. It was about building trust, empowering others,

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<v Speaker 2>and creating space for them to grow. On Monday, Ellen

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<v Speaker 2>called a team meeting. She didn't mention the notes, but

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<v Speaker 2>she addressed the elephant in the room. I've been holding

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<v Speaker 2>the reins too tightly, she admitted, and that's not fair

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<v Speaker 2>to you or me. Starting today, I want us to

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<v Speaker 2>rebuild trust. If I've missed the mark and how I've

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<v Speaker 2>led you, I want to hear about it. The team

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<v Speaker 2>was stunned, but the change was real. Over time, Ellen's

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<v Speaker 2>office no longer felt like a place where people whispered

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<v Speaker 2>in avoided eye contact. It became a hub of ideas, collaboration,

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<v Speaker 2>and growth. In that mysterious note, Ellen never found out

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<v Speaker 2>who wrote it, but in the end she realized it

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<v Speaker 2>didn't matter. What mattered was it woke her up before

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<v Speaker 2>it was too late. So, leaders, here's the question for you.

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<v Speaker 2>Are you too focused on control to true lead? Are

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<v Speaker 2>you too consumed that you criticize instead of Coach Ellen

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<v Speaker 2>learned the hard way that leadership isn't about micromanaging, It's

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<v Speaker 2>about trust, and in that she learned a very hard

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<v Speaker 2>lesson from her team, one that gave her the wake

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<v Speaker 2>up call she so desperately needed. So let me ask

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<v Speaker 2>you this, what would your team write in your leadership

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<v Speaker 2>binder if they had the chance. This has been the

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<v Speaker 2>seven Minute Leadership Podcast and I thank you for listening.

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<v Speaker 1>For more Paul Fell of Alito Podcasts, visit paulfellowalito dot com.