One of my most important people learnings is so important that I would put it close to the top of the learning pile.

“It is important to learn what to do, by learning what not to do.”

People who lead in a way that is untoward, selfish, negative, and individual to the point of ignoring the group, signal in so many ways, the negative outcomes of a narrow leadership prism.

Perceptive persons within organisations can see what is wrong with such a leadership style. If they put those things to one side on the mind’s back-burner, these “no“ approaches will come back to them in later years. That may help them as leaders of tomorrow, to ensure they don’t duplicate approaches they see as being wrong.

This learning by observation is important as a self-educational tool.

A great deal of my leadership approach was shaped by awareness and avoidance of the “not want to do“ learnings from earlier years of my educational experience.

It is an observational and remembrance practice I’d recommend to others who with the passing of time are keen to advance as leaders.