How would you describe the mindset of the majority of the leaders in your organization?

Our reader poll today asks: How would you describe the mindset of the majority of the leaders in your organization?

• They’re always willing to put the organization’s well-being ahead of their own interests 27.68%
• They mostly put the organization first but sometimes act selfishly 40.22%
• They’re often self-centered and occasionally put the organization first 21.77%
• They always come first before the organization’s interests no matter what 10.33%

Organization first… mostly… While about 70% of you report leaders in your organization either always or mostly put the organization’s interests ahead of their own, an alarming 30% of you said those leaders are putting their interests ahead of the organization’s. Such behavior is catastrophic. People see it happen and then emulate that behavior because the mindset is “well if they’re taking care of themselves first, they’re not taking care of me so I have to take care of myself.” Before you know it, no one in the organization is doing right by the organization and everything crumbles. So what can you do? A few things. First, remind people of your organization’s values. If they’re not prominent, make them top of mind. Second, when you see self-interested behavior, ask questions to clarify why the behavior is the right choice for the organization. People generally know when they’re doing something wrong or selfish. Third, lead by example. When you put the organization first, people know it and they emulate those behaviors too.

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

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These results were originally a SmartPulse poll in SmartBrief on Leadership which tracks feedback from more than 240,000 business leaders. Get smarter on leadership and sign up for the SmartBrief on Leadership e-newsletter.