Why it's wrong for leaders to insist on being right

Leaders who feel like they need to be right all the time can discourage their direct reports from expressing their ideas or solutions and lose opportunities to inspire camaraderie or help team members grow, writes executive coach Robin Camarote. Being aware of the tendency to want to be right is the first step to correcting it, and Camarote advises leaders to pause before responding, encourage dialogue with their team and apologize if they slip back into the old habit of feeling they must be right.

Put it into practice: Leaders must learn how to give feedback to others without making them feel wrong, Camarote writes. "Leadership isn't about being the one with the right answers. It's about creating an environment where the best answers emerge -- often from others."

Before issuing a return-to-office mandate, leaders should reflect on how not offering flexible working arrangements will impact their employees, especially female team members who may be forced to choose between personal responsibilities and their careers, writes Gleb Tsipursky, the CEO of Disaster Avoidance Experts. "Hybrid and remote work models not only support women but also enhance overall productivity and employee satisfaction," Tsipursky notes.

Put it into practice: Offering hybrid and other flexible working arrangements can help ease gender inequality in the office by giving women, in particular, a chance for advancement and recognition, Tsipursky writes. "Flexible work environments offer a semblance of balance, allowing women to integrate their professional and personal lives more effectively."

We tend to remember negative comments or events more vividly than compliments or good times, mainly as a survival technique when we were both hunter and prey, but if we can be aware of negative thoughts and positively reframe them, we can minimize their influence, writes Kathleen Davis, the host of The New Way We Work podcast. "Since our brains go to a negative place so automatically, it can be helpful just to be aware of when you're falling into that habit," Davis notes.

Put it into practice: Whenever you have a negative thought, think about someone else saying it and remind yourself that this thought won't matter a year from now, Davis advises. "When my kids complain about something, it's easy for me to put it in perspective and see that it's not a big deal, but my own complaints and worries feel much bigger. "

Anxiety affects over 300 million people globally, and while there's no single solution, diet plays a crucial role in managing symptoms. To reduce anxiety, registered dietitian Julia Zumpano and functional medicine specialist Melissa Young suggest incorporating foods that provide omega-3s, magnesium and probiotics, such as salmon, avocados and yogurt, and avoiding alcohol and caffeine.

More than 90% of the times captive bottlenose dolphins made open-mouthed expressions were during social play, 89% were when another dolphin was in sight, and dolphins quickly "smiled" back 33% of the time, researchers reported in iScience. It's unclear whether the facial expression reflects an emotion, signals safety or both, says lead researcher Elisabetta Palagi.

I must admit, my first reaction to a lot of things (especially change) is negative. I think immediately of all the things that are wrong about whatever new thing is entering my world.

It's nice to know that this negativity is evolutionary -- something that kept us from being eaten by a wild beast. However, since we're not regularly running away from sabertooth tigers these days, becoming aware of our negativity and developing tools to temper its influence over us is a wise practice.

Kathleen Davis' advice to give ourselves space to experience our emotions before we react out in the world is wise and echoes the advice Buddhist author Pema Chodron regularly dispenses. Both Davis and Chodron encourage us to pay close attention to our emotions (especially the negative ones) when they are in their very early stages. When we can catch our negativity early, when it's just an ember, we can avoid allowing it to become a full-blown fire that consumes us.

One of my favorite tools Chodron offers is to avoid attaching a story to our negative feelings. We do this all the time. Something will happen, and we'll think, "This always happens to me." After that, the stories begin about how we've been through this before and how we're always the victim, blah, blah, blah.

Chodron notes that all of our emotions come with some wisdom attached to them -- a lesson to learn. If we can welcome our feelings instead of pushing them away or numbing ourselves to them (or immediately acting on them), then we have a better chance of discovering the gem of wisdom that they bring us.

It's easier said than done, of course, but I have found that a meditation practice, keeping a gratitude journal and being playful with negative emotions goes a long way to disarming them. The point of all of these exercises is to bring more self-awareness to our feelings. If we can become aware of what triggers us, we're more likely to have the tools we need at that moment to cool the flames of negativity instead of fanning them.

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