The Leader Who Is Late

Perhaps nothing is more annoying than a leader who does not respect others’ time. They show up late, start and end meetings without regard to the established times, expect people to wait for them, and ask others to spend the extra time that they themselves do not have. Leaders like this send a clear and unequivocal message to everyone they lead: My priorities are more important than yours. 

Disrespecting others’ time is a serious sign of manipulating others for control. Those leaders who are chronically late and have no respect for the time of other people are attempting to control a situation and prove their self-importance in a childish way. Such attempts at control undermine a leader’s credibility and destroy the goodwill in a team. 

Because of hierarchy, equality is hard to find in life and in leadership, but we know this to be fundamentally true: one person’s time is just as valuable as another’s. Be a leader who gets this and behaves in accordance with the principle that your time does not take precedence over anyone else’s time. You’ll find others appreciate you immensely for it.