10 Things Great Leaders Do Differently: Make Others Feel Important

In 1990, I moved my family from Phoenix to Las Vegas to work for Kenny Guinn at PriMerit Bank.  Dr. Guinn had a great reputation as a good man and a good leader.  I didn’t really know how great of a leader until much later.

We both left the bank after just a few years.  It was the run and shoot offense of mergers and we were one of hundreds consumed by a megabank.  Dr. Guinn went on to run a major utility, lead UNLV as their president, serve as interim school district superintendent and serve two terms as governor of the State of Nevada.  I started a small training company.

Somewhere near the end of his second term as governor, I ran into him in the Reno airport.  I was waiting for a flight to depart and he had just arrived.

He remembered me.  Called me Timmy.  One of just a couple of people allowed that latitude.  We talked for over thirty minutes.  He asked about my boys.  Said he had read about my business.  He made me feel like the most important thing he had going on for that half hour.

I would bet you have had a similar experience with someone.  That rare leader that makes it all about you and not about them.  It’s not that they don’t speak.  They respond but they also redirect the subject to you.  To them, you feeling important is how they feel important.

As a leadership characteristic, nothing could be more engaging.  It generates a deeply rooted personal loyalty that cannot be measured or valued.  People remember those moments when you made it about them and their view of you skyrockets.

Can any leader make someone else feel important?

Absolutely and you should and here is how:

  1.  Ask about others.
  2. Remember important details about your team members.
  3. Don’t spend a lot of time talking about yourself.
  4. If it is important to them, make it important to you.
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