Trigger Question #63:
There’s a funny thing that happens when we become the boss. Overnight we go from asking to telling; from being unsure to having answers; from polite listeners to brash talkers; from being nervous around problems to dictating confident solutions.
What happened?
Nothing unusual. It’s what normally happens when someone is put in charge without being taught how to be in charge.
Don’t worry. It is easy to fix. All you must do is to remember the many meanings of the word “charge.” Here are a few to get you thinking and changing your charge:
Charge: to entrust with duty or responsibility. (It can be a burden, which is why you become the “heavy” in the room.)
Charge: an emotional current, like a surge of electrical energy. (It’s why you get a kick out of being the boss in charge.)
Charge: rush forward to attack. (It’s how you act without thinking, unlike how you behave when you need to explain yourself to a boss.)
Charge: to fill, as in “charge your glass”. (It’s why you don’t listen too well anymore. Like your glass, your mind is full.)
Lucky for us, many wise bosses weaken their charge by simply acting on the last definition of charge, the one about the mind. They empty theirs, often, of stale concepts to create space for fresh insights.
Welcome to my side of the nonsense divide.
. . .