Chapter 11
Shortly after Wendy and I got engaged, I went to Louisville to meet her parents. She was anxious to know what kind of impression I’d made, so at the first opportunity, she pulled her mother aside and said, “So, what do you think?” At that moment they could hear me trash-talking her two brothers, Jeff and Rick, as we played basketball in the driveway.
“Well,” my future mother-in-law, Anne, replied, “he’s a very loud man.”
She was right. Wendy says I’m like a big puppy dog, jumping around, barking, and wagging its tail. When you’re in a position of leadership, that kind of enthusiasm can get you into trouble because people confuse it with excessive optimism, even delusion. ...
Get How Leaders Learn now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
