“I Wouldn’t If I Were You.”

“Can I see the boss?”

“I wouldn’t if I were you.”

“Why?”

“He came stomping in, said ‘Don’t bother me,’ and then slammed his door.”

One of the most important BE’s of leadership credibility is BE CONSISTENT. Leadership is hard. One of the things that makes it hard is there are No Bad Days Allowed.

Consistency is an important attribute for effective leaders. Your followers need to know what to expect when you show up. If they don’t—if it is everything is great on Tuesday, but stay away on Thursday—fear and reluctance will become pervasive in the organization. Followers will spend too much time deciding if it is okay to approach you and the information you need today may not make it to your office because they are waiting for a safe time. The safe time may be too late.

Leaders have to show up ready to lead no matter what. Flat tires aren’t an excuse. Lack of sleep is not an excuse. PMS or menopause are not excuses. Thirty over par on Saturday is not an excuse. The Titans losing on Sunday is not an excuse. And yeah, I really do mean every day—on top of your game—ready to lead in a positive way.

So this means that leaders have to do something that is really hard to do: leave emotions in the car—especially anger, impatience, frustration, inattention, and so on. Hard to do? Yes. Impossible? No. If you need to rant and rave and throw up, do it before you show up at the office. What’s at stake? Not much—just your credibility and effectiveness as a leader.

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The Leadership Credibility series:

Your Leadership FICO Score
Be Honest
Be Visible
Be Available
Be Personable
Be Useful
Be Competent
Be A Bulldozer
Be Accountable