For many years I had a picture on my office door. It was a monkey with the universal “NO” sign. When someone asked about the picture, I replied, “I do not like monkeys. I don’t feed them or care for them. I give them no water. If you give me a monkey, I assure you that eventually, it will die.”
My job as a leader was to help people solve their work issues. That is the duty of any leader or manager. Too often people wanted to deposit their monkeys at my door. They came in and said something like “I have a problem.” They expected me to take on the task. I did not.
How often do people walk in and want to dump their monkey? Recently I was with a client (“Bob”). Bob and I had been discussing how Bob felt overwhelmed with work. An employee came in with a customer problem that he could not resolve. Bob said he would call the customer.
