Everything I needed to learn about Leadership I learned from Grey's Anatomy

Well, not really. But as one of the few people who has stuck with Grey's Anatomy through thick and thin, especially after last season, I struggle to find meaning in spending those 40 minutes catching up with the show on Hulu.  And with last Thursday's episode I found plenty of reasons!  And as usual those lessons came in the form of Webber and Bailey.

First Bailey makes a huge mess of her first day as Chief being what I used to call (because I was called that) a STEAMROLLER.  She barked orders and asked for the impossible and didn't bother to listen. And of course things went horribly wrong and people were talking behind her back and hating her. Just like they did with me.

And then the A-HA moments start to happen in rapid succession.  First when someone makes her understand she's being doing things all wrong.  And when they make her realize that she has it in her to make things right, she just needs to change perspectives.

https://www.facebook.com/GreysAnatomy/videos/10156287231590647/

Lesson #1: I feel like there are people who are natural born leaders and people who are not.  But even those who are natural born leaders (like Bailey), make a mess of things every once in a while (or maybe often) because they aren't inspiring people, they are steamrolling people.  That doesn't mean you'll never be a great leader, that just means you have to change your approach.

Then she goes to her team and apologizes for how she's behaved and promises she'll do better. I can't find video of that but she says she knows she messed up big time and she knows she can't do it without her team and she promises to do better the next day.  And of course since she has an amazing team they nod their heads and forgive her.

Lesson #2: Admit your mistakes. Especially to your people.  Your people need to know you're human too. And if they're great people they'll understand, and you'll all move on.  For the sake of the business.  No holding on to petty grudges.  No trying to take down the boss in order to get ahead.

Then finally Bailey realizes she needs to replace herself.  And she promotes Grey.  Best moment of the night.

Lesson #3:  You can't do it alone.  You need someone who is your backbone, who is your eyes when you can't be there.  Someone who will advocate for the culture when you're not there.  Like AOL's Tim Armstrong says "Culture is the Manager when you're not around". Also, who will you delegate your job to when you can no longer do it yourself?

Even if you've had the requisite fall out with Grey's Anatomy after the death of McDreamy, I highly recommend watching last Thursday's episode, if only for the Leadership lessons in it.