The fields of industry are strewn with the bones of those organizations whose leadership become infested with dry rot, who believed in taking instead of giving… who didn’t realize that the only assets that could not be replaced easily were the human ones.
High achievers want to get things done and get them done now! They usually don’t want to slow down for anything or anyone. But the valuable process of building relationships takes time. It can be very slow work. If you’re a high achiever, you may be saying to yourself, I haven’t needed to develop relationships to be a good leader. Here is my answer to that: as long as you’re winning, people are willing to follow – even if you are hard on them. However, when you drive people to achieve without slowing down to build relationships, a part of them will want to see you lose. Keep in mind the saying that if you step on people’s fingers on the way up, they may trip you on the way down.