Leaders should complain only to people above them, never to peers or subordinates. Venting frustrations downward spreads negativity and poisons company culture. CEOs feel isolated because they have few outlets, but directing complaints upward and focusing on motivation elsewhere builds a stronger organization.
Simple tip to being a very effective leader, because most people make leadership way harder than it actually is. Always complain up, motivate and inspire sideways and down. Meaning that in a business, if you are complaining to people on the same level as you or down below you, you are actually putting a cancer in your business and that destroys your culture. It creates a culture of complaining and what have you. You can only complain up. Now guess what? Being a CEO, there that makes you really lonely because you're like, who do I complain up to? Maybe your board of directors or maybe to your spouse at home or a friend, but not in your business. So I want you to think about this. Are you doing the right thing in your business? During the course of the next week, look at what you're doing. Are you complaining to team members about other team members or complaining about your frustrations to team members on the same level or actually way below you? Because that's going to harm you. I want you to be very cognizant of it this week. Where is your leadership? Because I want you to build a really strong culture, and culture is built on leadership, and it's your leadership. I want you to really get that. And if you are complaining down, you will have everybody complaining in your company. You will drive a culture of negativity, a cancerous culture, and sadly, you will destroy your business. So make sure you're only complaining up. And guess what? It's lonely at the top, and leadership is the most important thing to driving a great culture in your business.
