How to Help People Be Better By Being Better Yourself

People want to be better. It's my philosophy that everything you do should be in service of helping them achieve that. In work, you have a responsibility to the people you manage and the people you mentor to guide them on a path of improvement. What's both essential and inherent to this process is that you're making yourself better at the same time. 

Need to teach someone how to, say, lead a meeting? Better make sure you're darn good at it yourself. The fortification that's required to pass on knowledge inevitably leads to self-improvement. Meanwhile, you're setting good examples, you're modeling good behavior, and you're showcasing the skills you're aiming to pass on.

Be confident in your skills and your experience, but at the same time, be cautious. There is a danger to assuming you have everything to teach and nothing to learn, and it can often create situations that are best described by words ending in "-splaining." Lead with kindness, openness and curiosity.

Remember that being better can come from just having a better day. Never ruin someone's day in service of a lesser goal. Create environments that foster betterness, respect, and opportunity. And if I may be so bold, fun! Team building activities are a great way to have fun, learn, and be better.

Speaking of fun (ahem), here is a puzzle.

Pseudonyms
I took a bunch of celebrities, replaced their first name with their first initial, and their last name with a synonym. Because I’m nice, they’re in alphabetical order by their real last names. WHO ARE THEY?
K. Alarm
N. Enclosure
S. Verdant
J. Ridge
H. Exploration
B. Animated
J. Protracted
C. Stone
E. Rock

Scroll down for the answers!






























Kristen Bell
Nicolas Cage
Seth Green
Jonah Hill
Helen Hunt
Blake Lively
Justin Long
Chris Rock
Emma Stone