Billy, Aaron and I got back together for episode 2 of Season 3.

The topic was leadership. And it had been a few months since I wrote about how good leaders don’t have to be perfect, so I wanted to see where the three of us landed on it now.

I threw it at them cold.

All three of us have managed people. And all three of us still lean on leadership every day, whether the title is there or not.

Billy went first. He talked about his years as a manager, and why he’s grateful to be somewhere now where the only person he manages is himself.

He walked away from that track on purpose. He gets into the why on the episode.

Being humble

The conversation turned to ego pretty quickly.

Some leaders act cocky. They think the persona is what earns the respect.

I’ve never bought that.

Humility costs you nothing, and it keeps you honest. You don’t start believing you’re above the people doing the work. Morale holds. And you stay in a spot where you’re still learning something.

We also got into how fast things can turn.

Savings run out. Layoffs happen. And sometimes the timing was never yours to control in the first place.

That part stuck with me.

If you have the job right now, be grateful for it. That’s not a small thing.

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Give the episode a listen. And if you’ve led a team before, I want to know: did you stay on that track, or did you step off like Billy? Drop it in the comments.