Sublime

Watch for this tendency in your own style, and do everything possible to let your people know you will be supportive and for their success, even when they don’t get it right. This in no way means that you will be “easy” or allow ongoing patterns of incompetence or nonperformance. That is equally destructive. You must always hold people accountable

TWO STEPS BACK: ROLE CLASHES AND ACCIDENTAL ADVERSARIES

In each case, a brilliant man put his company in jeopardy because measuring himself and his legacy outweighed everything else.

When they blame you, and it feels unfair, blaming them back is not the answer. To them, that will seem unfair, and worse, they’ll assume you’re making excuses. Instead, work to understand it this way: “What’s the dynamic between us and what are we each contributing to the problem?”

identify value-based resistance to managerial work,

The more you know and understand this person, the better your chances are of a successful negotiated outcome.

A good resolution will usually require each party to accommodate somewhat to the other’s differences, or perhaps to reciprocate—going one way on some issues and the other way on others. This is the principle of mutual caretaking.