“If you want to make everyone happy, don’t be a leader, sell ice cream.” This saying has been attributed to several leaders including Nick Saban and Steve Jobs. Regardless of who coined the phrase, I do believe it is accurate – assuming you like ice cream.
My interpretation of this statement: due to the complex nature of human beings with all of our unique personalities, interests, intentions, goals and circumstances, it would be impossible to make every team member happy when you are a leader. Inevitably someone is not going to be happy with something you do. (Yes, even announcing salary increases can cause unhappiness.)
A leader’s responsibility is to harness and align the resources at her/his disposal and leverage the potential of these resources in order to achieve an objective. The responsibility does not include making everyone happy.
3 signs you are too worried about making people happy:
- Indecisiveness: Lack of decision making
- Poor communication: not being explicit, forthright and clear when communicating to your team
- Lack of direction: Fluid goals and objectives
Yes, we all want to be liked and appreciated. But as a leader, it is more important that we be respected by our team members for executing on the right strategy and doing so in the right way. Making people happy is frequently the byproduct of our work; however, it shouldn’t be the driver of our work.