Oh-so-many years ago, when I was a Youth Education Officer in a secondary school, I participated in a Lifeskills professional development program.  One of the great messages I took away from the program was that kids only learn from people they like.  I remember sharing that with a school principal and being right-royally shot down in flames - 'liking', apparently, was a euphemism for allowing kids to chew you up and spit out the bones and signalled a lack of respect, not to mention a complete disregard for the preferred maxim of 'obey me just because I'm older than you.'

Undeterred, I continued to believe and prove that kids did indeed respond better to being treated with respect, dignity and empathy.  It's not then rocket science to extend that to we big people, who also appreciate being treated in the same way.

Listening to many successful women leaders,  I keep hearing the same message - knowledge of the operational side of the organisation/business is not nearly as important as the interaction and relationship-building with colleagues and staff.  And it appears that they can still be very effective leaders, even with all those people 'liking' them.

I recently asked my favourite bloke how he would describe his leadership style and he said that, basically, he treated his workers as he would like to be treated.  Pretty simple, really, and it works a treat - he assures me that they all love him to bits, even when he's grumpy!

And so I wonder why there still exists a penchant for the leadership style based on a blatant disregard for people.   How personally and professionally destructive it is for someone to be sidelined for being unwilling to compromise workplace ethics and values.  I'm sure that more energy has to go into generating misery and that the side-effects are far less attractive than in the harmonious, mutually-respectful workplace.

As some probably-famous person said, "it's nice to be nice."