 Remember, your team is a direct reflection of their leadership. This means that they're a direct reflection of you. So if there's something that they're doing wrong, it will always reflect poorly upon the office. So you need to handle it with class and great understanding. I'm the youngest in the office. I feel like she doesn't respect me as the manager. How do I handle that? Anonymous. I like the choice of words in here. Starting out, I've lived it twice in two obstacles for myself, where I was in a management position and years younger than most of those on the team. And the challenge is absolutely the same with a large team or a small team. And I believe that respect, which is a word that was used, is something that is earned not given. Just because a title is given does not mean that respect automatically is. So how you behave in your management position will most often earn you the respect you deserve. As a leader, you must always be proving yourself. Notice that I didn't say the youngest or anything like that. I said, as the leader, people in our society will give respect or no respect to leadership, no matter what the age. The only thing is that being the youngest, you might have to take a little bit more time to prove yourself. But you have to expect perfection from yourself to be a good leader. And you have to constantly be giving to your teammates. If you don't take anything else away from this video, this is the thing that I want you to take away. Leadership is not a title, it's an action. Leadership is doing, acting, responding, protecting, and growing your team. So in order to be a great leader and to earn that respect, in my opinion, there are three things that every great leader should really pay attention to. Number one, hold yourself accountable and follow your rules. It's impossible to hold your team members to a standard that you don't hold yourself to. So being in a management position does not mean that things get easier. In fact, it's quite the opposite. Things really get harder. The world is full of people who get put into a management position with the idea that they get to be the boss and they get to boss everyone else around and they think it all should be kush. Those who really think that way, that it's gonna get easier, they're not going to make great leaders. It makes you think you hold yourself accountable to the same rules. For example, if you're going to get on someone's butt for being late, your ass should never be late to the office. Which brings me to my next point of leading by example. The best leaders are givers. Don't expect your team to do something that you yourself wouldn't do. Be on the front lines. If the cleaning company didn't show up last week, you rally the team together and you say, listen, I need someone to do the dusting. I need someone to do the vacuuming. I'm gonna take those nasty bathrooms and let's all just pray that the cleaning crew shows up next week. If an employee is sick, be the one to step in. If an employee is behind on their work, sympathetically ask how you can help. Even if it's something like taking their end of day closing tasks so that they can continue placing their orders before the day's over, this will speak to a worthy leader much more than saying, well, I got my stuff done to the day. I guess I'll see you tomorrow. That's not cool. Nobody likes that. Lead by example in how you present yourself. Be there on time. Be put together. Be dressed like a leader and your team will follow suit. I love it when I walk into an optical and it's, you know, they're all dressed pretty shabby. You know, they got some wrinkly clothes on and their hairs half done. Most of the time it is a direct reflection of how the leadership dresses in their office. Last thing is that your team should know that you have their back. In any leadership position, you will be the most successful if your team knows that you will be there for them. Sometimes we run into that patient that comes in just to frickin' complain about how terrible their experience was at the office, right, the Karen mean thing. Poor Karen's, gosh, if your name is Karen, I'm so sorry. But you know what I mean? There's people that are coming in just to, you know, complain to the manager. You need to be able to manage this issue without throwing your teammates under the bus, like ever. Even if the team member was wrong, you need to appropriately manage the situation with class and integrity. Remember, your team is a direct reflection of their leadership. This means that they're a direct reflection of you. So if there's something that they're doing wrong, it will always reflect poorly upon the office. So you need to handle it with class and great understanding. When your team knows that you have their back, it will give them so much confidence in you and it'll allow for your team to be able to grow together. How many of us have been in an office where people step on each other to make themselves look better, right? To make it up the ladder, they step on each other. That's a reflection of poor leadership. In an office that has a strong and respected leader, that kind of cutthroat mentality won't survive. So the thing to remember is that as a leader in your leadership position, whether you are a good one or a bad one, understand that you're always being watched and judged by your team, as you should be in my opinion. Every moment is an opportunity for you to set an example and for you to be able to prove yourself. And as a leader, you don't get to slip up. Now you're human, you'll make mistakes and when you do, you need to be the first to admit it and to apologize. You need to act the part, don't be stubborn. Act the part, look the part. Be kind, set an example and learn with your team. These are all values that a strong leader has. And as a good leader, you have to allow for your team to question you. You have to because you're not perfect, right? And they might have an idea or they might have a point that's a really valid point that good leadership will listen to and adapt to and implement. With all of that being said though, sometimes you'll have people that just won't follow even the best leadership. No matter how much you listen and take into account, in these situations, if there's a strong leadership organization in place, those people won't last long. They're often deemed as the bad apple that are trying to ruin everything. So now you mentioned with the employee as a singular, right? So I'm assuming there are just two people in this office. In this situation, all of the same things apply. You must lead by example. You must hold yourself accountable. You must have your team members back. You must learn with them. The only difference between having an entire team to manage and just one person to manage is that your role as a partner with that team member is even more vital. You will only pull rank as far as leadership goes when it comes to making hard decisions or when it comes to dealing with difficult people, right? To be able to back your team made up. But what is great is that when you're acting as a great leader and you have your team members back, it'll mean so much more to them. So just remember leadership is not a title, it's an action.