Coaching Yourself to Leadership: Five Key Strategies for Becoming an Integrated Leader

Dealing with People You Don’t Respect

Many high-performing individuals have problems dealing with people they don’t respect. This can really hang people up and get them stuck. If you find that you have this problem and just don’t want to deal with people for whom you have little respect, here’s an analogy to think about: Imagine that you are a world leader who must deal with the leaders of other countries. You don’t respect a couple of these leaders—in fact, you don’t trust them and you don’t like them. Do you take an all-or-nothing approach? Or do you try to meet them somewhere in the middle? Do you keep them at a distance, or do you try to get them on your side through influence and persuasion? To influence and persuade, you need to understand ...