About 15 years ago, a manager gave me a piece of advice that has stayed with me ever since:
It sounded simple. Almost too simple.
But it turned out to be one of the most impactful habits in my career.
Over the years, I've continuously updated that list—adding, removing, and refining it as I've grown into different roles. It's become both a guide and a mirror:
- A guide for how I want to lead
- A mirror for where I can improve
At first glance, many of the principles seem obvious. But in practice, consistently applying them is where the real challenge lies.
A Small Example: The Cost of Being Late
Take something as basic as punctuality.
I've always been on time. Naturally, I assumed others would be too—especially in a professional environment. I was wrong.
In a typical 10-person meeting where 2 people are late by 5 minutes, you're not losing 5 minutes—you're losing 45 minutes of collective time.
Now multiply that across a week of meetings.
That's not just inefficiency—it's a cultural signal.
In my teams, we made a simple shift: meetings start on time.
At first, it took adjustment. But over time, everyone adapted.
It's a small discipline that builds respect, accountability, and momentum.
My Personal Management Principles
Here's a refined version of the list I've built over the years:
✅ Do
- Trust your team and give them ownership
- Communicate clearly and transparently
- Be consistent—keep your word
- Lead by example
- Recognize and celebrate others' contributions
- Address issues early and directly
- Listen actively—seek to understand
- Encourage feedback and different perspectives
- Focus on solutions, not just problems
- Support growth through coaching and training
- Stay humble—ask for help when needed
- Create an environment where people can do their best work
- Be on time
❌ Don’t
- Micromanage
- Play favourites
- Avoid difficult conversations
- Take credit for others' work
- Make promises you can't keep
- React emotionally or lose your temper
- Assume—verify facts
- Work in silos or ignore input
- Undermine trust through inconsistency
- Expect unsustainable workloads from your team
View my original working leadership list
Do
- Trust your team — give people the freedom to come up with solutions
- Lift people up — encourage them
- Delegate when possible and appropriate
- Think about your team’s success
- Act with confidence
- Always be on time
- Inform staff at appropriate levels
- Praise in public — show people you appreciate them
- Use professional language
- Run emails to big crowds through ChatGPT for suggestions and corrections
- Share good feedback in 1:1s, with the team, and upper management
- Be open to feedback and encourage it
- Listen to concerns and have 1:1s — be a good listener
- If someone isn’t performing, ask what you can do to help rather than pushing them down
- Sync up with relevant people before announcing progress
- Bring positivity and solutions
- Build up strawman solutions and let others have input
- Ask for help when needed
- Be humble
- Review work to stay on top of things and help
- Reward team work and team efforts
- Keep your word
- Lead by example
- Allow for fun and not always 100% seriousness
- Offer training
- Own your mistakes and decisions
- Be yourself
- Dress for the job you want, not the job you have
- Support your staff
- Anchor decisions with your management and team
Don’t do
- Dangle a carrot — never make promises you can’t keep, or intend to keep
- Micromanage
- Get deeply involved in people’s personal problems or issues
- Appear insecure
- Come unprepared to meetings
- Be late
- Keep staff in the dark
- Never give out to someone in public
- Put people down or talk down to people
- Don’t curse
- Don’t bully staff
- Don’t have favourites
- Don’t lose your temper
- Don’t act without perspective — think things through and discuss them if needed
- Don’t threaten people with consequences or actions
- Don’t sell anyone out
- Never backstab
- Don’t talk about one person to another person in the team if the information can be shared with the whole team
- Don’t bring problems and complain about them — bring problems to brainstorm solutions or present a valid workaround
- Don’t try to do everything on your own
- Don’t avoid conflict — address things before they become bigger issues
- Don’t assume one person’s feedback is the truth — talk to all parties
- Don’t get defensive
- Never take credit for other people’s work
- Don’t allow others to take credit for other people’s work
- Don’t act one way in front of management and another way in front of employees
- Don’t expect people to work overtime and weekends for free
- Don’t assume anything — find out facts
Final Thought
There's no perfect formula for management.
But being intentional—observing, reflecting, and adjusting—goes a long way.
This list isn't static. It evolves as I do.
If you're a manager or aspiring to be one, I highly recommend starting your own version.
What would you add to this list?