Over the past few weeks I was in Brasília, the capital of Brazil, and then in Monterrey, Mexico. I gave a talk to a few thousand people in Brazil followed by a small executive session for one of the largest banks. In Monterrey I met with the top 120 leaders of a 67,000 person company and shared my vision about the future of leadership.

 

Since much of my recent work has been around leadership and vulnerability I received several questions around how new leaders (whether they are first time leaders, new team leaders, or even executive leaders) should address their teams when they first get put into a new role.

I met with several employees to hear what they say and even sat in on a few meetings. I’ve done many of these over the years and there is one big mistake that new and seasoned leaders keep making which then sets the tone for the rest of their leadership tenure and impacts how employees perceive the leader.

Let’s pretend for a minute that you’re either a new employee who just got promoted to your first leadership role or even that you’re a seasoned mid-level leader who just got your first executive position.

When this happens it’s natural for you to say something to your team, usually via an all-hands meetings. The first words that come out of your mouth during that all-hands meeting will either set you up for success or they will start your path to failure.

What do you say?

In the rest of the article I’m going to review what most leaders say and why it actually hurts them and what you should say instead. Read the rest here.

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