The Gossiping Leader

The work function is packed.

John, the boss, is off in a corner with a group of people from his department when he spots Ryan and Stephanie across the room.

"Not sure Ryan's earned that drink with his performance lately," he tells one of his team members. "He barely even comes to work anymore."

When one of the team members tells Stephanie to come over, John interjects.

"Hope she navigates her way over here better than she navigated the last project. She's been terrible lately."

As leaders, just about all of us have at some point been tempted to go down the same path as John.

We get a little cynical on occasion and choose to make some seemingly light-hearted remarks at others' expense.

But on a recent episode of The Learning Leader show with Ryan Hawk, renowned psychotherapist David Lieberman said these types of comments can often do significant long-term damage to our reputations and can be the undoing of our teams. 

"At the end of the day, we are drawn to positivity because that reflects a humility," Lieberman said.

"When you talk negatively about others, it reflects an arrogance and an ego that repels us. When a person is positive, we're attracted to them. Make no mistake, the boss who is critical of everyone and everything is going to create a culture that is critical of everyone and everything." 

Ultimately, we don't need to be rosy-eyed optimists at all times, nor do we need to sugarcoat hardships or the challenges we face.

But bad-mouthing competitors, making too many light-hearted quips about our team members, refusing to acknowledge any positives along the way sets the tone for a negative culture that few will want to be a part of in the long term. 

It's imperative that our messaging to our teams projects a level of confidence and an element of hope that good times lay ahead.

Otherwise, we can find ourselves standing alone at the gathering sooner rather than later.