Stephen ScogginsFounder - CEO, Lion - Lamb Solutions · Founder CEO Unstoppable Solutions

From Angry Boss to Doormat: The Leadership Trap Nobody Talks About #shorts

30 Jul 2026 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

0:51

In this YouTube short, Stephen Scoggins reflects on his own evolution as a leader, describing his earlier style as an "immature lion"—angry, ego‑driven, controlling, and domineering. He explains that recognizing this flaw led him to swing to the opposite extreme, becoming a "doormat" who lets others walk over him. He introduces the idea of an "empathy spectrum" and suggests that healthy leadership lies in the middle, a balanced "lion‑lamb" approach that integrates strength with compassion. The short aims to warn leaders about the trap of over‑correcting from aggression to excessive passivity and to encourage a more nuanced, balanced style.

Chapters

I want my audience to pick the book up for sure, um, because I was that leader who, who was more angry than not, more often than not. And I would call that in, in our vernacular being the immature lion. Very ego-driven, controlling. I would even say domineering at some level. And I think this would be interesting for other, other leaders out there who may be there now, is my intent was still to serve and help people. And it wasn't until I did, until I became aware of the immature lion, that I then swung all the way to the other side. I overcorrected. Correct it. Doormat. It's called the empathy spectrum.
One side's the doormat, you just let people walk all over you. And that's the difference, you know, being that lion-lamb is like being healthy. There in the middle is that integration of the two.