'Their' meeting, not 'your' meeting.

AuthorMandel, Morton L.
PositionIt's All About Who You Hire, How They Lead...and Other Essential Advice from a Self-Made Leader - Book review

From It's All About Who You Hire, How They Lead ... by Morton L. Mandel. Copyright [c]2013 by the author. Published by Jossey-Bass (www.josseybass.corn).

ON AN EVENING in the spring of 1954, I chaired my first meeting of a nonprofit organization. I was in my early 30s, had been active in the United Way since age 26, and was now beginning my first leadership role. I had just taken over the chairmanship of the small business division of United Way from a lawyer, someone I admired, George Baldwin. Our role was to raise money for the charity from smaller businesses in the Cleveland metro area.

I asked George to come to the first meeting I chaired at the Statler Hotel in Cleveland, in order to critique my chairmanship. After chairing that first session, I felt good. We had a very constructive meeting and what I thought was a great exchange of ideas. My friend George saw it differently.

"Mort, it was a very creative meeting," he said. "There were some wonderful decisions and some great conclusions for United Way. But you know it would have been a lot better if those people left the meeting thinking it was their meeting instead of your meeting. Practically all of the ideas were yours."

His observation hit me like a ton of bricks. I realized that I had thoroughly dominated the meeting and not been aware of it. George's honesty changed me. In that moment, I learned what...

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