It's not weakness to say "Please" and "Thank You"

There are two very common types of leaders (hopefully mostly the young ones) who either:

1. Want to be liked too much (we'll discuss this in another post)

2. Go to the extreme the other way and think they have to be the tough, hard a**. These folks think the only way to manage and lead their folks is through harsh treatment. "I'd rather be feared than loved." Oh, brother. Get over it. General Patton is dead and gone.

Leaders like this (and I use the term "leader" loosely here) don't have any respect for their teams or think they can engender any respect themselves...unless they're Genghis Khan.

Interesting isn't it? One big way to receive respect from your team members is to show them common courtesy and respect. Weren't most of us raised to say "please" and "thank you"? Wouldn't you rather be respected for being a great boss, for being an empathetic leader than for scaring your folks half to death (if the answer is "no" you'd rather have your folks be scared, then step away from the job and go work in the woods or something).

Saying "please" and "thank you" don't diminish your power or strength as a leader...if anything, they can enhance it because, again, you're showing respect for others and they're more likely going to want to show it to you.

Think about it, "please".

"Thank you."