Henley Leadership Group Blog

The steaming cups of coffee sitting on the table attested to the earliness of the hour. My business partner and I, along with a key leader on our team, were on a work retreat that was meant to advance our thinking, strategy and processes. Instead, we had unconsciously opened our laptops and were responding to emails. 

"Leadership requires attention to depth, to feelings, to inner struggles. A leader must wrestle with inward issues. They are expected to have great aspirations, confront great frustrations, achieve great self-control, suffer great betrayals, and manifest great compassion.” — Peter Koestenbaum

Have you ever felt left out or excluded from important conversations or meetings at work? Have you ever hid or covered parts of who you are or what you believe — your political or religious affiliation, or details about your personal life, history and background, for example — in order to fit in and be accepted at work? 

Failure is at least a little uncomfortable for all of us, and that’s because it brings up feelings that we typically try to avoid in life.