Leadership is a word that we hear alot about these days.  There are lots of books, magazines, articles and people talking about what it takes to become a great leader.

Unfortunately, if you are like me, you've experienced many examples of terrible leadership. 

I've listed my top 7 favorites traits of a terrible leader (and if you are interested in becoming a great leader, you guessed it, just do the opposite).

1) Be arrogant - after all you are "Kinda of a Big Deal", don't let anyone forgot how important you are.

2) Never ask for feedback - why? Read number 1.

3) Always find fault in what others are doing, and let then know how much they are messing up.

4) Don't ever try anything new. 

5) Punish failure and creativity from your staff.

6) Don't ever plan for the future, it will take care of itself.

7) Don't ever take responsibility for anything going wrong, assign blame immediately.

There it is in 7 simple steps. Hopefully none of these apply to you and your team. If I've missed any, let me know!

Last week I was travelling to speak at a conference in a small Northern town, when something incredible happened that totally made my day.

It all started like most of my travel days, you know, packing my bags, checking them twice, clearing my messages, and heading off to the airport.

The security check in line went great, and I headed to my gate.

When our flight was announced I headed outside, and up the tiny flight of stairs to our cute little plane which held 40 people.

Needless to say, there wasn't alot of room, and the plane was pretty cramped.  I silently wished for the person infront of me NOT to put their seat back, as they would end up in my lap.

The flight was noisy, but otherwise uneventful, when the person beside me struck up a conversation.

As it turns out his wife was attending the same conference that I was scheduled to speak at the next day.  We chatted away for the rest of the flight, as the awkward "nice talking to you, have a nice life" goodbye was fast approaching.

That's when he offerred me a ride (a friend was picking him up) to the hotel I was staying at. "It's no big deal, we are heading there anyways to meet my wife", he said.

With that I said "Sure, that would be great", and away we went (saving me the $50 cab fare).

The conversation during the ride was great, and we said our goodbyes at the hotel, likely never to see each other again.

While I am not suggesting you accept rides from anyone, this kind act totally made my day!

Which got me thinking "How can I make someone else's day?" Remember it doesn't have to be a big thing, so how about trying some of these ideas:

1) Smile

2) Use the persons name (it's the sweetest word they can hear)

3) Say please, thank you, and sorry more often (and mean it)

4) Compliment them

Thanks to Dave in Sault Ste Marie for making my day, and silently encouraging me to pass it on.