Ah, praise from the big man. An attaboy from the boss lady. For some employees, there is nothing better. Like little children, they look for it, waiting, dreaming of it. I too, was that way. But then I had a boss who broke me. It was brilliant the way he accomplished this miracle. Pure, unadulterated genius. He snapped my bad habit by never giving me any positive feedback. All the while, griping constantly about me and my team.

Now I settle for the joy of the task. Doing the job as well as I can. And if I get some greasy knuckles from the bossman, it’s icing.

So, tables flipped, I was large and (mostly) in charge. I praised my guys nearly every chance I got when they did something right. For that matter, I rode ‘em when they screwed up too.

Then another boss took me aside. “Hey man,” he said. “You give your peeps too many high-fives.”

“Really?”

“You do,” he replied. “But they all seem to like working for someone upbeat. But be careful man, pick your spots to give them feedback.”

“I’ll say, you are pretty savvy about this leadership stuff.”

He tut-tuted. “Now what did I tell you about praising people?”

“Oh that’s right,” I said with a smile. “You don’t have a friggin’ clue about anything. . .”

** This article was written by a guest contributor, Navy One. If you are interested in contributing an article, please contact us!