The Middles: Standing In The Muck To Show Your Team The Way

P. Kim Bui’s thoughts for new/emerging leaders – on management, work-life balance, self-care and more.

I was going to write this week about the precarious situation of recommendations, but then my brain got on a different tangent.

You see, last week I had one of those weeks where I direly missed writing stories and working on things that moved much, much faster than culture change or new strategy building.

This week is better, not because I realize that those things take time (of course they do), but because I sat down and did some dirty work.

My biggest fear is becoming the kind of person who is known for talking, not doing. Doing is not just the kind of doing that got many of us into these jobs: the coding, the activism, the story writing. Doing sometimes moving a story forward, making that Gantt chart, creating that deck, having that awkward conversation. It’s certainly not the glamorous kind of doing, though.

But look at the people who don’t do the unglamorous dirty work. They’re the type that aren’t always appreciated by their peers. A long time ago, a friend at the Seattle Times told me that David Boardman, the top editor at the time, literally sat down and started writing/transcribing/what he could do during one breaking news scenario.

People appreciate working for folks who do the dirty work that goes unseen. Part of culture change and moving people ahead is showing them the way, so how can we foster new leaders that take on all the challenges if we’re not willing to do it ourselves?

So congratulations to you, because I’m sure all of you did one thing that was unglamorous, dirty and probably (generally) unappreciated. It makes you a better leader.