The Introvert Leader

Are You Working for a Manager or a Leader?

• Austin Hopkins

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Managers focus on what they can get. Leaders focus on what they can give.

In this episode, I’m breaking down the clear and sometimes subtle differences between managers and true leaders. You’ll hear real stories, examples from my own career, and a challenge to help you grow into the kind of leader people want to follow.

If you’ve ever wondered whether your boss is helping you grow or just using you to get ahead, this episode will help you see the difference. And if you’re a leader yourself, this is your blueprint to lead with purpose, trust, and impact.


Timestamps

  • 00:47 - How They Use Power: Managers rely on fear to get compliance. Leaders use influence to earn trust and move people forward.
  • 07:51 - How They Make Decisions: Managers operate in silos and think black-and-white. Leaders seek input and navigate the grey.
  • 13:54 - How They Treat People: Managers drain your energy and protect their ego. Leaders build confidence and make people feel seen.
  • 18:20 - How They Communicate: Managers avoid hard conversations and only reach out when they need something. Leaders communicate often, clearly, and with care.
  • 24:13 - Where Their Loyalty Lies: Managers choose the company over their team. Leaders stand by their people even when it’s inconvenient.
  • 28:06 - Challenge for Listeners: If you are working for a manager its time to make a change. If you are boss its times to be the leader you wish you had. 




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Speaker 1:

Hello, this is your host, austin Hopkins, and welcome to the Introvert Leader Podcast. Managers care about what they can get from their teams. Leaders care about what they can do for their teams. Here's the truth. Managers use people. Leaders grow people. I've worked for both and in fact, at times I've actually been both, and when you put the bad right next to the good, the contrast is impossible to ignore. One drains you and the other makes you believe in yourself. We all deserve to work for someone who brings the best out of us, someone who cares about us as humans, not just employees.

Speaker 1:

In this episode, I'm going to break down the five ways you can tell if someone's truly leading or if they're just managing so to kick things off. I want to talk about how they use power. So power is a funny thing. It can be used for selfish reasons. It can also be used to prop people up, to help people that are beneath you, and I want to break down how managers use power, and then I want to contrast that with how leaders use power. Managers lead with fear, so do this. Or else this has to be done, or there's going to be consequences. They rely on their position to get the compliance, and they always have to remind you that they're the boss. Now, on the flip side of that, leaders they lead with influence. Leaders don't need to use the fear to get what they want and in my decade-long leadership career, I never once had to raise my voice. I never had to demand respect career. I never once had to raise my voice, I never had to demand respect and I never used threats. I simply just used my influence to get what I wanted. So I knew that if I treated people the right way and that they trusted me and I had their best interests in mind, that they're going to follow me and they're going to do what I ask.

Speaker 1:

Moving on, managers use their teams to get what they want and leaders help their teams get what they want. So managers use their teams almost like assistants. What can they do for me today? What do I need from them? And it's funny I actually worked for a C-suite executive who used people over and over again to get what she wanted. She looked at the people around her as her resources and guess what people thought about her in the long term? They didn't like her. They thought she's just using me to get what she wants. She's just using me to climb the corporate ladder. We don't want to feel that as employees. Now, on the flip side of that, leaders they help their team get what they want. Leaders understand that the fulfillment and the legacy you get from helping others is what's most important. People will remember you for years and years if you make it about them. But if you're a selfish, self-centered, focused leader, guess what People are going to remember that they're going to remember ah, he's just in it for himself. He doesn't really care about me. So, moving on, next one Managers they like to tell you versus show you, and leaders they like to show you, not tell you.

Speaker 1:

So managers are all talk when it really comes down to it. They talk a big game, but for some reason there is nothing to back it up. They say stuff like we need to focus on better communication, but then they're the worst at sharing what they expect or communicating. So literally, it's do what I say, not as I do. And leaders are the exact opposite. They don't have to say a lot, they can just show you with their actions. So leaders lead by example. If they say we need to work harder this week, they're going to roll up their sleeves. Get down in the trenches with you and they're going to work harder. And so that's the key. People don't remember what we say, but rather what we do. So if you're working for someone, that's all talk. There's no substance to back it up. They never actually do anything. They're probably a manager. They're probably not a leader, because they're using their words instead of their actions.

Speaker 1:

So the next one managers they like to steal credit for their employees' work, and leaders they like to share credit. So managers are riddled with insecurity, so they feel the need to steal from others around them so they don't become a threat. I need to steal the work that my team's doing so that they're not competing with me, because I want people to know I'm the most important, I'm the special one, and leaders on the other side will find any excuse to lift somebody up, even if they did some of the work. They will find a way to pass some of the credit on to their team, because they know that getting the credit themselves is not the most important thing At the end of the day. As leaders, our highest value is what our team produces. It's not necessarily what we produce right. We're there to guide, we're there to mentor, we're there to coach, but our team's there to actually do the work.

Speaker 1:

So the next one I've seen too many times managers they pick the best projects for themselves, but leaders actually give the highest impact work to their team. So managers they like to choose the most fun, the most challenging work, the stuff that's the highest visibility, and it's about them and what they want. So they're going to cherry pick the fun stuff. Oh, that project looks good for me. I want to do that. I'm bored this week. I want to focus on this fun thing. Now leaders understand it's not about them doing the fun work, it's about their team doing the important high impact work. They want to almost find opportunities to give their team high impact work because they know what that's going to do for them. That's going to grow their team and it's also going to put them in a great position because they're going to look amazing for giving their team a shot and having it pay off.

Speaker 1:

Another one which is pretty scary is that managers manipulate people to get what they want, but leaders ask directly for what they want. So managers like to manipulate, right? They can't just rely on their value or their expertise. They got to artificially manipulate and get people to do what they want. So I remember I had a boss once who promised to give me a pay raise For months and months and months. He kept promising, saying, yep, we're going to give you this pay raise, don't worry, it's coming Austin, we know how valuable you are. And he kept that raise never came. He just wanted to get me to work extra hard for a few months. I even called him out on it later and said, like, was the pay raise ever a real thing? Was this ever coming? And he hemmed and hawed and didn't give me a real answer. But to be honest with you, he was just using me and he was manipulating me to get more of what he wanted. Kind of reminds me of that movie, horrible Bosses. I don't know if you've ever seen it, but Jason Bateman's boss does that in the movie and promises a promotion and then doesn't give it to him at the end. And I just think it's hilarious because I've seen it in my own life.

Speaker 1:

The next one managers never get vulnerable, but leaders do. Leaders are totally willing to get vulnerable. They realize that the vulnerability that they bring into the team helps create connection and confidence in their team. When our leader can say, hey, I'm struggling with this or hey, this isn't going so well. Guess what that does to us. It shows us I don't have to be perfect. I can share when things aren't going well and I'm not in it by myself. There's other people that are struggling as well.

Speaker 1:

Now, managers, on the flip side of that. They never get vulnerable. They keep their guards up at all costs. They believe showing vulnerability is a weakness, and you've probably worked for leaders like that. They are exhausting to work for because they appear perfect. Everything they do and say is perfect. They never make mistakes.

Speaker 1:

And that leads me to the next one. Managers never think they're wrong, and leaders are easily willing to admit mistakes. I don't know if you've ever had a manager who just thinks they're perfect, right? They walk around every single day. Every email they send is perfect, everything they say is perfect, every presentation is perfect, every one-on-one is perfect. They're perfect. They're basically the best human being to ever roam the earth.

Speaker 1:

Well, leaders are on the flip side of that. They know that they make mistakes all the time and they're not at all embarrassed to admit when they fuck up. In fact, there have been a lot of times where I've literally said in front of my whole team. Man, I messed this up. Guys, like I didn't know what I was doing, or you know. I thought this was the right move but it wasn't. And guess what? My team respects me so much more for that because, at the end of the day, they know this guy can admit his mistakes. Why can't I Like I can go out there and take risks and make mistakes and that's okay, I'm not going to get fired. My boss isn't getting fired, he's okay. Why can't I do it? And I think that's the key here they want the people around them to do what they need to do.

Speaker 1:

Now, leaders understand that if you are a true leader and you're using your influence and you're focusing on people, it almost becomes like a cheat code to get people to do what you want. Like I can't even tell you how little I had to try to get people to do what I wanted, Like one little simple ask, one little simple question, one little simple email or, honestly, the team would feel the initiative to just take on stuff. And that was really cool to know that I didn't have to lead with a firm hand. I could just be me, I could be vulnerable, I could be honest and I've got people to follow me. Just with me being myself, just using that influence for good, people would follow me. Okay, I want to move on to the next way to know if you're working for a leader or for a boss.

Speaker 1:

So this comes down to how they make decisions. So when you figure out how and why a boss makes decisions, your whole world changes. You start to know how someone operates. You can then protect yourself. You can make moves that are going to make sure that you're set up for the right success later in your career, that you are not exposing yourself too much. So figuring out how your boss makes decisions super, super important.

Speaker 1:

So here are some ways that I've noticed how managers make their decisions versus how leaders do so. First and foremost, managers make decisions without considering the team. So I've noticed this managers operate and make decisions in a silo. They think they know best. They don't need to ask the team. Why would they ask the team? They work for me, right, I know best, I'm the smartest. Doesn't work really well.

Speaker 1:

Now, leaders, on the flip side, they know exactly the value in coming to the team and asking what they think. Leaders understand the power in diverse perspectives. I don't know what I don't know. I can only make decisions based on my expertise, my lens, my experience in life. Why wouldn't I want to hear what other people have to think? And so if you're not constantly asking your team what they think, to weigh in on big decisions, not only are you missing out and not getting as much value as you could, but you're probably pissing off your team because you're basically saying to them I don't really think you're important, I don't really trust your judgment. Not really a good thing.

Speaker 1:

The next way I've seen a glaring difference between managers and leaders is managers, they like to think in black and white, and leaders, they're comfortable operating in the gray. So, managers, things are either wrong or right, they're either yes or no, they're either left or right, they're either up and you're down, you're right. Sorry, katy Perry, tangent there, but leaders operate in the gray. They know that there's nuance and that it's not just black or white and that there are lots of shades of gray and that everything's up in the air and open for discussion, and I think that's a big thing. If you find that you're working for someone that is incredibly rigid, that only sees things one way, that's never willing to change their perspective. That's a problem. Okay, the next one Managers focus on the company needs over the employee needs.

Speaker 1:

But leaders balance the company needs with the employee needs. So, at the end of the day, needs, but leaders balance the company needs with the employee needs. So at the end of the day, managers care about one thing and one thing only what the company needs, what they need, and that's most important. So guess what that does to their employees? It screws them over, right? They forget that they're actually managing human beings, that these are people that have families and needs and wants and desires, and they just look at them as a number. And I've seen this too many times. Managers that are moving up in a company that are focused on that forget about their people and they treat them as robots, and it's not a good sight. It does not feel good to be treated as if you don't matter, as if your needs are not important, right? And I think leaders do a really good job at walking that balancing act. So at the end of the day, I can't just care too much about my employee needs to, where I give them everything they want and need at the expense of the company. We work in a corporation, we have to make money. There are goals, there are metrics, but you can absolutely walk that line. You can make sure that you're not only focusing on what the company needs, but also realizing this is a human being and that if I don't treat them the right way, they're going to burn out or they're going to leave.

Speaker 1:

Another glaring difference between managers and leaders is managers avoid fixing problems and leaders they lean into challenges and solve them. So I've noticed with managers they kind of just hope problems will go away If I just don't talk about it or if we just kind of ignore it, everything will just fix itself. Well, that's lazy as hell and that doesn't fix anything. It just kicks the problem down the line a little bit more. So maybe you don't deal with it today, but you're gonna have to deal within six months. Or maybe it doesn't peak its ugly head today but somebody quits in two months. You never know. And the cool thing about leaders is they lean into challenges. So they just rope their sleeve and they say hey, you know what the team problems are, my problem. So I can't ignore it. Two of my employees are fighting. I can't just hope they figure it out. I got to step in. I got to make sure that these problems are taken care of, because leaders know that if there are problems on their team, the entire team is affected, including themselves.

Speaker 1:

Okay, the next glaring difference is how managers micromanage versus how leaders guide and trust the work. So managers think the more they control everything, the better it turns out, and instead the opposite happens their team gets dumber and slower. So next time your boss tries to micromanage, you maybe ask them something like hey, have I done something to lose your trust? Because at the end of the day, I really think that's what it is. When we micromanage, we're basically saying I don't trust my team and, hey, I'm guilty of this.

Speaker 1:

When I first started in my leadership career, there were plenty of times where I was overly micromanaging. I was worried about getting a good outcome and I thought, hey, if I just have my hands in everything, I will make sure that the quality of the product is spot on. Well, at the end of the day, no-transcript. They give very clear expectations and then they stay out of their way. Now, if you hire good people but you don't give expectations and just hope they'll figure it out, that's also a failure. So it's that combination of giving clear expectations but then just saying I've given you expectations, now let me see how you do. I'm going to back up and I'm going to just see what you do Now. Of course we can, course, correct as things go on, but you first got to give your team at least a chance to try stuff on their own.

Speaker 1:

Another really big difference between managers and leaders is managers think small and leaders think big. So managers, they're caring about the day-to-day grind, the day-to-day tasks, the emails they need to send, the upcoming meeting they're going to. Leaders aren't thinking about that kind of stuff. Yes, it's important, but leaders are thinking about the end in mind. They're focusing on the bigger picture. How do all these pieces fit together? What are we moving towards? What's going to be happening a year from now, not just what's happening in the next week? And so if you were working for someone that you're noticing is thinking small, they're just caring about the daily tasks that tells me they're a manager, they're not a leader and they're not thinking big. So I think we can all agree that how somebody makes decisions can absolutely shape the team's direction. But, more importantly, how you treat people determines whether anyone's actually going to want to follow you, and this is where the difference between a manager and a leader becomes impossible to ignore. Let's move on to the next use case. I want to talk about how managers and leaders treat people.

Speaker 1:

So, spend time around any leader and you're instantly going to feel invincible. They make you feel like you can literally do anything. Managers do the opposite. They find a way to make you feel small, to make you feel like you can literally do anything. Managers do the opposite. They find a way to make you feel small, to make you feel like you're not as smart and that you're not very capable. And it's weird how that works. Right, you spend time around one person, you feel better. You spend time around another, you feel worse.

Speaker 1:

So, to kick things off, managers like to say they care, I care about you guys, we're a family. But at the end of the day, their actions don't really show me that. They don't check in on me personally. They don't give a shit about anything I'm going through. It's all about what's important to them. What do they need? What do they care about? Now? Leaders, on the other hand, they show you they care. Right, they care about you as a human being. They care about your family. They care about your burnout, your wellbeing. They care about your career goals. They care about you. They want you to be happy and to be your best. Managers are all talk, yeah, I care, but they don't show that they care. That's a big one to watch out for. So what are people saying versus what are they actually doing? That'll give you everything you need to know.

Speaker 1:

Another one that I think is interesting is managers feel the need to protect their ego at all costs and, on the flip side, leaders realize that they have an ego, but, but they want to keep that in balance. So managers are always asking themselves questions like do people respect me? What do people think about me? How do I look this week? Leaders are not as worried about that. They realize that their value is in how they lead the team, how they treat people, not how they look.

Speaker 1:

Another fun way to compare managers and leaders is to look at how managers care more about how you make them look, versus leaders care about more how they make you look. So managers are always worried about how bad they look. Anytime you make them look bad, it is World War III. So if you show up on a call the wrong way and you say the wrong thing, oh my gosh, they're going to scream at you. And if you send an email that maybe had the wrong person cc'd and makes our team look bad, oh my gosh, they are going to lose their shit. Now leaders on the other side of that realize that mistakes are going to happen and they're more focused on how they can make their team look good, so they're not as worried about their own individual position. They're saying, okay, well, what does my team need? How can I get my team a cool win? How can I get Jessica to get some recognition? How can I make sure that Stuart gets the high impact projects that he wants? How can I make sure that Carol gets promoted faster? They're worried about how their team looks versus about how they look. And, by the way, I'll pause and say leaders are not perfect and don't do all of these things expertly at all times. So it's again it's kind of a scale and you might be a little bit of one thing at one day and you might be a little bit of something else another day.

Speaker 1:

I think another way to compare managers and leaders is when it comes to recognition. So managers don't recognize team wins. They are stingy with recognition, they find a way to skip it, downplay it or steal it for themselves. Now leaders on the flip side of that they help their team get recognition. The leaders that are actually good at their job realize that the single best tool that they have is recognition. Their teams get recognized week in and week out because they know the more they recognize something, the more of that behavior they get. So that's the key there Leaders realize the power of recognition and managers want to stifle. The team wins because again it goes back to that competing thing and they're competing with their team. The ego is now getting a little bit bruised because we're not talking about me, we're talking about my team. No bueno. Another comparison would be managers like to keep relationships surface level, while leaders focused on relationship building.

Speaker 1:

So I had a manager who nothing about who I was. He didn't ask me anything about my personal life and so I never shared and I always felt like it was kind of a forced relationship. I remember he'd invite me out to go get a beer and we would just sit there awkwardly for like two hours. I didn't know what to talk about, he didn't know what to talk about, he didn't give a shit about me and I really didn't give a crap about him. To be honest with you Now on the not saying we need to be best friends, but they genuinely showed they cared about my life. Because I want us all to remember this we are human beings. We work for a company and there may be metrics and guidelines and things we need to follow, but we're human beings. How you treat people tells me everything I need to know about you. The way you treat your employees can make your team view you as a real leader. If done right, done wrong, your team is just going to see you as the cliche corporate manager, someone they have to listen to but they don't respect.

Speaker 1:

Okay, I want to move on to the next one. I want to talk about the difference between how managers and leaders communicate. So poor communication keeps managers as managers. They never move into that leader category. Well, on the flip side of that, leaders realize the power of communication and they understand the need for clarity. So, to kick things off, managers only communicate when they need something. So I have a friend whose boss only talks to him on average, maybe once or twice a month, and it's only when he needs something. And in my opinion, this is just lazy. We deserve better as employees. We don't have to talk every day to our employees. I don't need to hear from my boss every single hour, but I need to hear from them regularly and not just when they need something. I want them to reach out to me just to check in to see how they can help me. That's what we're starving for as employees. We want someone to check in on us, to chat with us and make sure that, like, we understand that they need us and that we're not just a resource for them.

Speaker 1:

Another interesting comparison between leaders and managers is managers avoid tough conversations, while leaders face the hard conversations head on. So if you're a true leader, you realize that hard conversations are impossible to avoid. It's just impossible. So I'll give you an example. I had an employee who was super bright, super smart and driven, but he dressed like someone who had just pulled clothes out of the bottom of a dumpster and they would have visible dirt, more wrinkles than you could ever imagine. I mean, this literally looks like he took all of his clothes, bundled them up, threw them on the ground, stepped on them and then threw them on for work. Well, he was a high net worth banker and our clients obviously were not going to be okay with that, and so I had to pull him aside. Was it super awkward? Yeah, I didn't want to pull him aside and tell this grown adult man to dress better, but I had to do it. Guess what happened. He respected me for it. He started dressing better and it was fine. It was a non-issue. We never talked about it again. He didn't care. We had a great relationship.

Speaker 1:

But I think that's willing to have the tough conversations, managers. They avoid them. They hope things will get fixed. They avoid them because they're uncomfortable or they're awkward, for whatever their reason. They just don't want to have them. Leaders realize that leaning into the hard conversations, that's where the power comes. You can't avoid stuff. As a leader, that is your job. You are responsible for everything. There's no one there to save you. You got to save yourself, okay.

Speaker 1:

Another interesting one is I noticed that when managers are communicating with their team, they tell people what to do, versus when I've worked for leaders, they ask guide and they listen. So, managers, they lead with instructions and think it's effective to tell their teams how to do every little thing. When managers do this, they actually then start to create robots that eventually become smaller, less effective, boring. If we can't do anything without mom or dad telling us what to do, we stop taking initiative and we just wait to be told what to do. Is that really what we want from our employees? Do we want them just to be robots that do and say what we tell them to do? I don't think so.

Speaker 1:

Leaders focus on guiding people. Instead of telling people what to do. They say, hey, here's what we got to work on, here's what our long-term goal is. How do we get there? What do we think the best plan to achieve that would be? And it's collaboration, right, it's not. I'm telling you what to do. It's like what do you think we should do? And, man, there's such power in that when employees feel like their boss is genuinely interested in their perspective, in their expertise, it feels good. It makes you feel like you're adding value, that you're important.

Speaker 1:

Another glaring difference between managers and leaders is managers use one-on-ones just for status updates and leaders use one-on-ones to support growth, unblock stuff and coach. So really, at the end of the day, leaders realize that one-on-ones aren't just for worker updates. Right, you can send me an email about that we can chat about that during our next team meeting. But they know that that's that dedicated time, that golden opportunity to spend one-on-one with their employee, to get closer right. They realize that it's their opportunity to help them with goal setting. It's their opportunity to help them with goal setting. It's their opportunity to help them remove obstacles. It's their opportunity to give them in-depth coaching for their team.

Speaker 1:

And I've had one-on-ones with a boss who never once asked how he could help me with anything. He literally just wanted to know what have you been working on? And that's what a manager does. It's they go into the one-on-one what have you been working on recently? Okay, anything I can help with Sounds good. Have a good day. We'll talk soon. That's not a one-on-one, that's a check the box activity. That's you doing something that you have to do, not because you believe in it. I'd almost rather you skip one-on-ones if you're a manager, if you're going to do them like Okay.

Speaker 1:

The final one in this section is managers diminish their team's intelligence, while leaders multiply their team's intelligence. So I read this book called multipliers a few years ago and I really, really liked it. It talks about this more in depth. So if you haven't read that I'd recommend it. But essentially what I took away from that what I've observed in my own life is that leaders they make their teams bigger, grander. They basically amplify their team's intelligence. So I remember working for a boss back in the day and she would let me take risks and she would let me fail and she would let me try again. And anytime I was around her I felt like I was invincible. I felt more capable, almost like that. I could do anything, like nothing was beyond me, that I could handle any situation and guess what? Over time I got smarter and I got faster and she brought out the best in me.

Speaker 1:

Now, managers, they do the exact opposite. They're diminishers. So they basically take your intelligence and hide it. They make it smaller. They don't ask for it, they don't use it. They make you feel bad for it. They don't wanna ask for your opinion. That's what managers do. Leaders for your opinion. That's what managers do. Leaders are the exact opposite. They get the very best from your team.

Speaker 1:

I think you can tell a lot about someone from how they communicate. But I think if we go a little bit deeper, if we actually look at where someone's loyalty lies, that's where we can see the biggest contrast between managers and leaders. When it comes down to it, where your loyalty is. What's guiding your decision making is going to be the most important way to determine who this person is and what they're all about. So I want to transition and talk a little bit about how you can spot the difference between a manager and a leader when it comes to their loyalty.

Speaker 1:

Loyalty can mean the difference between getting fired and receiving a little slap on the wrist, and here are a couple of subtle ways to see where your boss's loyalty lies. So, to kick things off, managers are loyal to the company, even at their team's expense. So I had a manager who chose the company instead of me over and over and over again, and I never fully trusted him. When someone isn't loyal, you are then feeling like you're exposed, that you're not on safe footing and that something bad could happen at any time. On the flip side of that, leaders are loyal to their people, even when it's inconvenient. They don't care if it comes at the expense of their happiness, a little discomfort at the expense of their career. Even Leaders realize that loyalty to their people is everything. If you're not loyal to the people that you are leading, then you are not a leader, you are a manager. You're just a boss. To the people that you are leading, then you are not a leader, you are a manager, you're just a boss.

Speaker 1:

Okay, moving on, managers use their team to hit their own career goals. So managers are always thinking about what their team can do for their career. Well, how can I get this out of my team so I can get promoted faster? Leaders know that when their team shine, their own career gets better. So I remember in 2018, I had finally realized that the less I worried about my career goals, the better I did. The focus was on my team winning. They looked better and I looked better. And it's kind of a counterintuitive way to think about it, because when we're focusing on the team instead of ourself, we're a little bit worried. Am I going to get what I need and are things going to work out for me? Well, for me, I realized that when I was focusing on the team, I didn't have to think about that as much, because I was thinking about others, and I don't know if that comes from my faith and knowing, at the end of the day, that God's got a plan for my life, that things are working out. The universe is always giving me what I need. I don't need to control and worry about it, but I think that's a really big one. Leaders understand the importance of getting their teams to get where they want, and that's going to then help them.

Speaker 1:

The next one is around accountability. I have noticed that managers they avoid accountability. They hope problems fix themselves and they don't want to have those uncomfortable combos and they don't want to have to nag or keep their folks accountable to a certain level. Now leaders on the flip side of that, they hold themselves and their team accountable to high standards. Leaders realize that accountability is the key to long-term success. They don't shy away from it.

Speaker 1:

And I'll admit, when I was starting my leadership career, I felt a little bit weird about accountability. I felt like I hired people, they should just do it. I don't need to hold them accountable. Like, ah, no one has to hold me accountable. I do all my work. Why do I have to do this for my team?

Speaker 1:

Well then, I realized the power of accountability. I read a book years ago that did a profile on American Express and the transformation they went under with their new CEO when they started leaning into accountability and from then on I realized that I was just avoiding accountability because I was uncomfortable. So I started just saying screw it, I'm going to have the uncomfortable conversations. I need to hold my team accountable and I also need to hold myself accountable. So I had incredibly high standards in my team and people would always tell me, like Austin, you have really high standards. But they never told me I wasn't fair and they never said I went overboard. I just knew I was capable of a lot and I also knew that my team was capable of a lot. And I know that sometimes it just takes accountability. I mean, heck, that's half of the job I do as a career coach is I keep our clients accountable, ask them to follow up on the stuff they say they're going to do, make sure that they're actually following through on the commitments they've made to themselves. So I hope this was helpful to see the comparison between managers and leaders.

Speaker 1:

But to wrap things up, two things I want to tell you. Number one since I dropped the career fulfillment quiz, I have been blown away by how many people have taken it. I've gotten the same feedback over and over again, and it's this. I'm surprised I haven't asked myself these questions. I put together a 60 second career fulfillment quiz. It's going to help you get clarity. It's free and I guarantee you're going to find value. You're going to ask yourself questions about your career, your life and your fulfillment that you've never asked before, and you're going to get clarity on am I on the right path? Am I doing what I need to do?

Speaker 1:

Okay, to wrap things up, I want to give you a challenge. So, if you're an employee, I want you to do this. If you recognize your boss is in the manager calm, you're not crazy. You deserve better. I want you to do two things. Either one, I want you to give them some feedback. Or two, I want you to find an actual leader to work for. When you work for a leader, your life gets better. I promise you your life will change the moment you work for a leader. Now, if you're a manager, you're a leader, you're a boss. If you recognize yourself in the manager column, good, that means you're paying attention. Leadership isn't a title. It's what you do every single day. So I want you to start choosing to show up as the leader you wish you had. So I want to say thank you so much for listening. Make it a great day. This has been the Introvert Leader Podcast. Subscribe for new episodes every other Wednesday.

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Austin Hopkins

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