The Manager I Still Think About

Early in my career, I had a manager whose leadership style stayed with me.

She rarely made me feel like she was checking up on me.

Instead of asking:

"Did you follow up on this?"

She'd say:

"I'm sure you've already followed up, but I wanted to make sure everything went smoothly."

If she had an idea for how I should handle something, she didn't always tell me what to do.

She might say:

"If it were me, I'd probably schedule that meeting for Friday with these people. What do you think?"

She gave me the benefit of the doubt while still providing direction.

More importantly, she let me get to the solution myself.

She was teaching me how to think, not simply giving me instructions.

I've carried that with me as I've become a leader.

Sometimes the fastest thing is to tell someone exactly what to do.

But the fastest thing today isn't always what develops the strongest person tomorrow.

When you give someone space to think, make a recommendation, and arrive at the solution, you're building their confidence and decision-making skills.

Great leadership isn't creating a team that always needs your answers.

It's helping people become confident enough to find their own.

That's something a great manager taught me early in my career—and something I still think about today.