I’ve been acknowledged repeatedly as an exceptional leader, and I have no doubt that these books, along with Dr. Covey’s books, are a big reason as to why.

But sometimes, my friend, this approach can come back to bite you. I recently had a problem employee, and at the end of the day, the fact that I used those steps (the five above) against me, ended up in me being fired and him being promoted.

I’m confident in my own mind that there is nothing that I could have done differently, and the fact that his blatant, proven lies were considered acceptable while the fact that I was unaware that he was lying, and that I used “soft” language in dealing with him meant that I was fired, well.. I didn’t want to work for that type of company anyway, so I took my severance package and went away.

It was a hard lesson to learn though.