The 10 Biggest Leadership Mistakes You Really Should Avoid

You made it. You’re a manager or boss, maybe even a business owner or CEO. Now, it’s time to be a leader. If you know anything about managing other people and their ideas, you know that it’s a super tough gig. There are many tempting traps you can fall into when it comes to being in charge, but as long as you’re cognizant of them, they’re possible to avoid. Keep reading for our top ten mistakes leaders make, plus how to be sure you steer clear of them.

1 Not listening to others

Two brains are better than one, right? Even when you’re in charge, the ideas of others are highly valuable. No two people see the same issue in the exact same way, so thinking that you always know best is extremely closed-minded. You don’t always have to take the advice or ideas of others, but even just acknowledging other perspectives can help inform the decisions that are ultimately yours to make.

2 Forgetting about the details

The big picture is important, and as a leader it’s your job to define what that is. It’s also your job to make sure that your company is on track toward achieving those important goals you’ve set. But here’s the thing: those major objectives are only reached through a series of smaller projects and wins. It’s true that you don’t want to sweat the small stuff, but you can’t have a completely hands-off approach to what’s going on in the lower rungs of your organization. Make an effort to understand the day-to-day tasks of all departments in your company—that way you’ll notice when something’s gone awry.

3 Failing to recognize individual successes

Praise is an incredible motivator and you should give it out where it’s due. If someone does something great, they deserve to be recognized for it. It’s also important to remember that taking credit for others’ successes is a major no-no, since it will immediately alienate them and put them on the defensive. You want your employees to feel like they’re part of a collaborative team rather than a power-hungry dictatorship.

4 Not being open to change

It’s easy to get comfortable with the way things are, but systems by their very nature evolve. In most cases, there is an improvement that can be made to any process, idea, or product, so if you see that change needs to happen in order to increase efficiency or productivity, don’t resist!

5 Being inaccessible

If your employees or direct reports can’t come to you with issues or to seek advice, you’re not doing your job as a leader. Of course, you don’t want people to come to you about every small thing that happens in the office, but even the lowest-level employees should know that if a major problem is occurring, your door is open.

6 Micromanaging

As mentioned earlier, your job is to manage big picture goals. There’s a difference between being keyed-in to the details of your company and obsessively micromanaging things that are outside of your scope. Hire people you trust to get the smaller jobs done and check in with them regularly—but there’s no need get involved in every single thing they do.

7 Not making communication a priority

If something important is going on at your company, the employees should know about it. With all the communication options we have available in the business world (email, workflow apps, conference calls, meetings, intranet websites, etc.), there’s no reason people should have to feel in the dark about what’s going on. Obviously, there are some sensitive topics you may not want to share with all employees publicly, but they should know that there are open communication channels with you that go both ways.

8 Being too personal or impersonal

It shouldn’t be all about you, all the time. Employees don’t need to know every time you go on a date, why you’re annoyed with a parent or anything that you would share only with an extremely close friend. On the other hand, if your employees know nothing about you, it will be difficult for them to relate. It’s also a good idea to get to know your employees on a personal level as much as feasible, since it shows that you’re invested in their success.

9 Failing to admit when you’re wrong

There’s nothing worse than a leader who won’t acknowledge a mistake or error in judgement. If it turns out that you were wrong about something, own up to it and then move on. No harm, no foul. Your employees will respect this stance a lot more than if you try to play the blame game or deny any fault.

10 Being afraid to fire people

Of course, you should only fire someone if their performance is very poor, but many leaders will let under-performers slide because they don’t want to lower morale or have a difficult conversation. Imagine you could replace that person who isn’t a good fit with someone who is perfect for the job, who meets all your goals and adds value to your team. How much more productive would your team as a whole be? If you’ve made an effort to give constructive criticism and your poor performer isn’t improving, chances are, the uncomfortable conversation will be worth it.

A version of this post originally appeared on Glassdoor’s blog.

Do You Take Notes In Your Books?

Be Specific! How to Get to the Point in Everything You Write

You want your writing to have a clear message. You want it to be easy to read and reach more people.

But your pieces aren’t getting a lot of engagement, and your readers are confused about your main points. You’re having to verbally explain to people what you wrote, and you’re getting fewer and fewer responses to your novel-length emails.

Maybe you were aiming for your next writing piece to be strong, effective, and easy to understand . . . only to end up with a meandering piece of work whose true message is vague or completely unintelligible, as it is so obscured beneath prose that is both confusing and bogged down by adding unnecessary additions that it leaves the reader thoroughly questioning what they have just read and why, if they are even able to doggedly soldier on until the end of the piece, which—I must tell you—is improbable and unlikely.

Did you catch all that? Or did your brain zone out halfway through?

If you want your writing to inspire, influence, educate—and even entertain—getting to the point is a great strategy.

So today we’re sharing four ways you can improve your craft and get to the point in everything you write:

1Use Appropriate Sentence Length

Have you ever read a sentence that was so long that when you got to the end you’d forgotten what it was about? The longer a sentence grows, the more difficult it is for the reader to track what’s being said. You may be writing longer sentences to fit in more ideas, but this can result in your true message getting lost.

Make sure your sentences flow well, and express complete thoughts that are easy to understand. (While you’re at it, avoid sentence fragments and run-ons.)

Resist the urge to jam too many ideas or details into the same sentence. If your sentence is so long that its meaning isn’t clear or you’ve switched topics partway through, consider breaking it into two new sentences.

Example: For a writer, it’s important to find that special spot where you can be your most creative, whether that’s a coffee shop, library, park bench, or cozy chair, because this allows you to unlock your imagination and do the work you’ve dreamed of.

Solution: For a writer, it’s important to find that special spot where you can be your most creative, whether that’s a coffee shop, library, park bench, or cozy chair. This allows you to unlock your imagination and do the work you’ve dreamed of.

2Avoid Filler Words

Cutting out filler words can make your sentences shorter and easier to understand. Filler words and phrases are unnecessary words that clutter our sentences and don’t add meaning. For example:

• Basically
• Rather
• Just
• As a matter of fact
• At all times

We use these words to pad our writing, but when we use them too much they start to bog down our sentences and blow up our word count. They can even become a writing tic with overuse. I actually have to stop myself from using the words “actually”and “just” in just about every other sentence.

Here’s a tip: “‘Actually’ is a word that’s not actually necessary for most sentences.”

“If your sentence works without it, you just don’t need this word.”

Want to recognize common filler words? Here’s a handy list of words and phrases you no longer need.

3Be Precise with Your Words

Is your writing specific, descriptive, and direct? Or do you get feedback that it’s too vague or wordy? To get precise with your writing, you may need to use more words (to be descriptive), or fewer words (to simplify).

Vague: My mom’s aunt has some stuff for sale.

Precise: My great-aunt has a bookshelf and a writing desk for sale.

Wordy: The pigs from the fairytale lived in a house made of bricks

Concise: The Three Little Pigs lived in a brick house.

Make your writing strong and vivid by using specific phrases, instead of ambiguous words like:

• thing
• stuff
• good
• bad
• pretty
• ugly

If there’s a simpler way to say something complex, the simpler phrase is often clearer. For example: “airline staff” vs. “people who work for the airline.”

Avoiding redundancy is also key to precision in writing. Have you ever had an “unexpected surprise” or met a “very unique” person? Phrases that say the same thing twice are called tautologies. We may think we’re getting more specific, but in reality we’re using redundant filler words.

You can learn more about tautologies and tidying up your writing here.

4Use the Best Voice For the Situation (Active vs. Passive)

You may have heard that it’s always better to use the active voice, but the passive voice is also a great tool. The key is to use whichever voice will do the best job at communicating the meaning of your sentence.

The active voice can help your writing feel more direct and energetic. It’s a great way to quickly make your point. Say you’re writing a blog post about the actress Viola Davis. The active voice clearly showcases her accomplishments.

Active: Viola Davis won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.

But what if you’re writing a recap of the 2017 Oscars? For that same piece of information, it could be more direct to use the passive voice because your primary focus is on the award—rather than the actress who won it.

Passive: The Oscar for Best Supporting Actress was won by Viola Davis.

In general, using the active voice will infuse your writing with greater energy and clarity, but sometimes the passive voice will be your best choice, depending on which part of the sentence you want to emphasize.

Still not sure when to use the active vs. passive voice? You can learn more here.

Comma Before But

Deciding whether to put a comma before or after but in a sentence is hard for a lot of writers, but it doesn’t have to be for you!

When Do You Need a Comma Before But?

You should put a comma before but only when but is connecting two independent clauses.

I would go for a walk, but it’s raining outside.

How do you know you have two independent clauses? First, look at the words before but: I would go for a walk. Then look at the words after but: it’s raining outside. Both of those phrases could stand alone as complete sentences. That means they’re independent clauses, so you need to use a comma before but. When you don’t have two independent clauses, leave the comma out.

I would go for a walk, but for the rain.

This time, but is connecting an independent clause to a dependent clause. How do you know? Look at the words after but: for the rain. That phrase can’t stand by itself as a complete sentence, which means it’s a dependent clause. Therefore, you shouldn’t use a comma before but.

I would go for a walk but for the rain.

Here are a few more examples of when you should and shouldn’t use a comma before but in a sentence:

The dog is young, but well trained.

The dog is young but well trained.

Grammar is boring, but necessary.

Grammar is boring but necessary.

The dog is young but he’s well trained.

The dog is young, but he’s well trained.

Grammar is boring but it’s necessary.

Grammar is boring, but it’s necessary.

By the way, this comma rule applies to all conjunctions, including and, or, and so.

Do You Need a Comma After But?

If you’re wondering whether you need a comma after but, the answer is that you probably don’t.

The only time you need a comma after but is when it is immediately followed by an interrupter. An interrupter is a little word or phrase that interrupts a sentence to show emotion, tone, or emphasis. You should always use a comma before and after an interrupter.

But, of course, it’s not safe for Spot to go outside on his own.

In the sentence above, of course is an interrupter. You could take it out of the sentence without losing any meaning. The only reason it’s there is to emphasize the obviousness of the statement. If your sentence happens to place an interrupter directly after but, then go ahead and use a comma. Otherwise, you don’t need a comma after but.

Do You Think Texting Should Be Accepted as a Writing Form?

Yes, Branding Yourself Is More Important Than Ever

You’re awesome. You know it. People close to you know it. But does your professional community know it?

When you think about it, your personal brand is already out there in the world. You’re reminded of that every time you Google yourself. (C’mon. You know you do it.) At a minimum, you’re likely to see your LinkedIn and Facebook profiles prominently featured. That’s a start.

But developing a killer personal brand is an important tool for fine-tuning your professional image. It allows you to manage how other people in your industry see and relate to you. It can help you position yourself as a go-to expert, a freelancer people want to hire, or a specialist that people will want to buy from. Personal branding puts you in control of the image you project.

Four People with Killer Personal Brands

So, what does personal branding look like in action? Here are just a few examples of people whose personal brands are crushing it.

Pat Flynn

Pat Flynn made a name for himself with a can’t-lose niche, which he dominates with an awesome domain—smartpassiveincome.com. He’s branded himself “the crash test dummy of online business” by sharing the results of his income experiments in published monthly reports.

Erika Napoletano

Writer, performer, and TEDx speaker Erika Napoletano shares the messy parts of her life one ultra-real moment at a time. Her website, ErikaNapoletano.com, features her no-holds-barred signature style.

Seth Godin

Just perform a Google search for the word “Seth” and your very first result will be Seth Godin’s massively popular website. Godin, an entrepreneur, marketer, speaker, and best-selling author, takes personal branding to the next level at SethGodin.com.

Jenny Lawson

Best-selling author Jenny Lawson (aka The Bloggess) carved out a niche for herself by being both hilarious and brutally honest about her struggles with physical and mental illness. Through her humor and relatable stories, she’s built a massive, loyal following.

Six Steps to Building Your Own Personal Brand

We know personal branding is important, and what the websites of a few people who are rocking their brand look like. Now, here are some steps for creating a brand presence of your own.

1 Know thy competition and find thy niche.

Who are you? It’s a tough question for most people to answer, but it’s important to give it thorough consideration before you start building your personal brand. Take a look at others who’ve been successful in the same field. How are you unique? You won’t get far by trying to be the next Seth Godin or Jenny Lawson, so how can you be the best you?

2 Get specific about your strengths.

What do people value about you? Dig into the specifics of what you do best. Let’s say you’re trying to build your brand as a talented writer. There are plenty of talented folks doing the exact same thing. What is it about your writing that stands out? It might be that you have a personable, conversational style that people relate to. Narrow your focus to what you do best in your area of expertise, and then highlight your specific strengths as you’re forging your brand presence.

3 Figure out your brand attributes.

What adjectives do you want people to use to describe you and what you do? It’s important to know this upfront so you can infuse your website and social media efforts with your style. Erika Napoletano is a great example of someone who has made the best of her personal attributes. Everything about her site, from her photos to her blog, reflects her brash, irreverent personality. What is it about you that you want people to notice?

4 Streamline your social media presence.

You can’t be all things to all social media channels. Choose a few that work best for your niche, and then post to those channels regularly. Think of posting to social media as “feeding” your audience. Keep them nourished.

Building your social media presence is about choosing the audiences you’ll connect with. Don’t choose a channel just because it’s hot or growing, pick something with major trends you can relate to. For example, don’t join Snapchat unless you’re prepared to overshare, and don’t join Instagram if you hate photography.

—Celeste Mora, Social Media Manager, Grammarly

5 Consider a portfolio website with your full name as the domain.

What do you want people to discover when they search Google for your name? They may encounter your (mostly private) Facebook profile or an obscure post you made on Yahoo Answers ages ago. You can take some control over how people perceive your personal brand by registering your own name as your domain, and then maintaining a website featuring your portfolio.

6 Network.

Building a personal brand won’t get you anywhere if you don’t share it. Get out there! If you’ve built a website, consider having business cards made with your domain and other contact info. Go to professional networking events. Engage others in your field on social media. Comment on blogs. Reach out via email to forge connections. When you make an effort to get to know people, they’ll be more likely to want to know more about you.

Don’t just build, maintain.

Once you’ve established an online presence, you’ve got to maintain it. Keep your website current. Make regular posts to social media and don’t forget to interact with your audience. The most difficult part of building your brand isn’t necessarily establishing it, but continuing to build it without letting it languish.

Now that you’re out there in the world, don’t sit still! Remember that your personal brand has given you a platform for sharing yourself and your accomplishments with the world.

Per Our Conversation: 5 New Ways to Say This Traditional Phrase

No one wants to be known as the king or queen of boring conversations. One way to prevent tedium is to avoid predictable speech patterns. Are you guilty of overusing “per our conversation?” Grab your listener’s attention with five fresh variations!

If You Want to Give Credit for an Idea

1 As Mentioned When you say “per our conversation,” your listeners understand that a conversation took place. But who said what? If you insert the name of the speakers, you minimize the possibility of confusion. “As mentioned” allows you to specify the speaker.Here are a couple of examples:

As I mentioned, the meeting on Sunday will cover the five principles of effective communication.

As the contractors mentioned, the tile in the bathroom is in dire need of repair.

Of course, you can use “as mentioned” without pointing out the speaker if keeping track of conversants isn’t your goal.

As mentioned at the board meeting, Gary Schlepper will be responsible for providing the snacks for our annual company picnic.

If You Want to Give a Reminder

2 As Agreed Often, the motive behind a “per our conversation” email is to remind others of something they said they would do. The best phrase for the job is “as agreed.” If you made a contract, this expression is especially useful for reminding different parties of their obligations.

As agreed, your company is expected to deliver the tables and chairs to the venue before 8 am.

As agreed, the contract revision period will end on July 5, 2018. We will not consider requests after this date.

To Explain The Results of a Conversation

3 Following Our Conversation

“That changes everything!” Have you ever made that exclamation after a conversation reveals surprising information? “Following our conversation” is a handy phrase to show the effect of new details. Take a look at these examples published online:

Thank you again for the interview on Wednesday. I am very excited about this position and your company. Following our conversation, I realized there were two more things I wanted to tell you that time didn’t permit us to cover.

Following our conversation, the superintendent recommended to the Board of Education that I be appointed principal of that school and the Board approved his recommendation.

Dorwin LlewelldynHoward, Sr.,

If the above examples seem too formal, you can easily replace “conversation” with a more casual term such as “chat,” “talk,” or even “convo.” However, in a legal context, you may encounter an even more formal way to say “following our conversation.”

4 Pursuant to our conversation/In pursuance of Do pursuant and pursuance remind you of a verb? If you said pursue, you have found a clue to understanding these terms. Pursuant means “in accordance with” and pursuance refers to the execution or carrying out of something. “Pursuant to” and “in pursuance of” our conversation are used when an action follows as a result of a discussion. Notice the following example:

Pursuant to our conversation, I have enclosed for your review a rough sketch of the dress design. If the design meets your approval, please return the sketch and down payment for your garment in the envelope provided.

Note: According to the Entrepreneur’s Guide to Writing Business Plans and Proposals, these two phrases are too formal for non-legal correspondence. In a section on clichés, K. Dennis Chambers challenges “pursuant to our conversation”: “Would you ever say that in real life? Would you sit down with a colleague over coffee and say, ‘Hey, Joshua, pursuant to our last conversation. . .?’” Most people wouldn’t. If you are an exception, you might want to risk trying these two controversial options for the sake of variety.

To Summarize

Summarizing a conversation is an essential practice if you want to create a record for reference or to make sure that both parties understand each other. In this case, the simple “according to” is the most appropriate phrase to recap a conversation.

5 According to

According to our conversation, the following updates will go live on Thursday, April 11:

(1) The new webpage will go live. (2) Employee discounts will increase from 10% to 15% of the sales price. (3) We will implement casual Friday.

Did I miss anything?

According to our conversation, articles will be due at midnight until further notice.

Here’s another reason to avoid using “per our conversation.” The Handbook of Technical Writing classifies the word “per” as jargon when it’s used to mean “according to.” What do you say? Will you freshen up your vocabulary with one of these five fresh phrases today?