A few years back, I had the plea­sure of coach­ing one of the most no-nonsense lead­ers I have ever met.  He was known and respected in his orga­ni­za­tion for his direct­ness and can­dor.  He was a bit rough around the edges, but he had a heart of gold.  I found him a bit intim­i­dat­ing at first, but now that I’ve got­ten to know him I wouldn’t hes­i­tate to go to him if I ever have a real need.

Over the years, I spent time with his lead­er­ship team and the thou­sand plus oth­ers that he led.  Fre­quently they would com­ment on how they loved work­ing with him because, while they may not always like what he had to say, they always knew where they stood.

This leader had all sorts of say­ings that went per­fectly with his per­son­al­ity.  One of my favorites was “ I am lean­ing in on this one.”  This meant that he was div­ing head first into the prob­lem.  He knew that busi­ness and life are filled with prob­lems and chal­lenges, which are just wait­ing to be solved and learned from.

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