Who's the most important person in the room?

One of my employees had just had another serious meltdown in the office. He was quite a bit bigger than me and his words were thrown with some serious weight.

This was the third time.

I took each one personally.

Looking back, I know I acted like I was the most important person in the room whenever that happened.

But I did something different that time.

I made him the most important person in the room and I invited him to have coffee with me.

I listened to his story behind the meltdowns.

We had an opportunity to uncover his dreams, talk about his frustrations and identify a path forward for him to take to achieve his dreams (which didn’t include further meltdowns like that). It also allowed me to understand what I could do differently in the future in order to support him.

By moving from me being the most important person in the room to making him the most important person in the room, I was able to leave my ego at the door. Plus we didn’t experience any further meltdowns.

And he has since achieved his dreams.

Is it time to make someone else the most important person in the room?

That to me is leadership in black and white.

Photo: Tammy Brimner/TLBVelo Photography