Who Loves Ya, Baby?

Really, in your business life, who can you count on to take the absolute best care of you? There should be only one answer: YOU!

I'm not talking about having a dog-eat-dog perspective on your work life where it's just about "me and mine" over the common good. All I'm saying is that -- bottom line -- when you have tough decisions to make that affect you and your life and your family, you are the only work person you can truly count on.

That was a hard lesson for me to learn. My parents raised me to trust others and in my leadership training my Army instructors taught me that my people should be able to trust me and I should be able to trust my bosses. I believed that.

I've had a few (very few) bosses who've betrayed that trust and the rest of my bosses did their best for me. I have always tried to do my absolute best for the people I oversaw.

Still, as much as they work to have an empathetic spirit and walk in their peoples' shoes, the best bosses don't know their teams' personal finances, family dynamics, stresses, etc. Only each individual does.

When it comes down to it, regardless of how much of our lives we put into them...our jobs are still just that...jobs. I only have one family, but I have had several jobs. Even among the military careerists where "it's not a job, it's a way of life" we still used to say, "it's not if you separate from the Service, it's when".

Let's stop at this: Be the best team member and leader you can be...while Taking Care of You.