“Everything happens for a reason”, is what people told me. Sometimes however, things happen for reasons that have nothing to do with you.

Growing up in eastern Washington I was blessed to have family in western Montana. Every weekend we would make the same five hour drive to the Bitterroot Valley and stay with my Grandparents. The beautiful drive through the mountains was very routine, we knew what time we would arrive based on the time of day we left. We never had to ask our Dad if we were there yet, we knew exactly where we were.

A leader is not a person, not a place, and not a thing. To lead is to take action. There are many ways to lead others, but all require some sort of action to be taken. I don’t know a single example of a person that has successfully led by simply having a title, or position.

We have a broken system, we are so quick to throw employees into action that they never receive the proper training needed.

What do you expect? What a question. One we as leaders and managers fail to ask. Who is setting your customers expectations? An even better question. Far too often we don’t even consider this. I can’t think of anything more impactful on a transaction, then preconceived expectations.