Leadership lesson from the ”The Yes-Man” Short story.
In the land of possibilities there was a man called Danagali. He was nicknamed ‘The Yes-Man’ and loved by many. He dreamed of becoming the best boss ever. One day they gave him a job at the factory as mechanic and because of his pleasant personality quickly rose to become the team-leader of the department. At last, he was the boss.
‘The Yes-Man’ was always eager to please his team and them happy, no matter what it took. As time progressed the team made quite a number of mistakes on their projects and the bosses were not happy.
One day, his team came to him with a ridiculous request: they wanted him to build a time machine so they could travel back in time and fix all the mistakes they had made on recent projects. This projects were important to the company but no one could crack the nut on what was not going well? They decided to think backward as they improved the product, maybe they could identify the problem.
Off-course as their team leader, ‘The Yes-Man’ was not willing to disappoint his team, eagerly agreed to their request. He spent a lot of time and resources on building the time machine, neglecting all his other duties and responsibilities in the team.
Days turned into weeks, and ‘The Yes-Man’ became increasingly stressed out and overworked. He barely slept or ate, spending every waking moment trying to perfect the time machine.
Finally, after weeks of hard work, ‘The Yes-Man’ proudly presented his team with the finished time machine. They eagerly gathered the machine waiting to see if it would work.
‘The Yes-Man’ flipped a switch, and the machine started shaking violently. Suddenly, Pwaaaaa Pwaaaaa, there was a loud bang bang. The machine exploded, sending bits of metal and smoke everywhere.
The team was understandably upset, and ‘The Yes-Man’ felt embarrassed and frustrated. “But…but it was supposed to work!” he protested.
His team exchanged a knowing look. ‘The Yes-Man’, we were just kidding,” one of them said. “Actually our boss, they said, we don’t really need a time machine. We just wanted to see if you’d actually try to build one!”
‘The Yes-Man’ was mortified!
This is embarrassing he thought to himself. He also felt angry with himself for spending weeks working on a project that had been nothing but a joke. He realized he couldn’t always say yes to everything.
From that day on, ‘The Yes-Man’ learned to set boundaries and to never take a joke a little more lightly. However, even in this shortfall, his team respected him more for it.
The moral of the story? Only a foolish leader always says yes. As a leader, though listening to your team is important especially their needs and challenges. But it’s equally important to know when to say no and prioritize your time. It’s not true that being a good boss means always being agreeable, it’s about being strategic and knowing when to make the tough calls.
Remember …
- “Saying no is never easy, its tough, but its the ingredient for effective leadership.”
- “As a boss, you can’t always say yes. It’s important to set boundaries and prioritize affectively”.
- “Sometimes, saying no is the kindest thing you can do for your team.”
- “If you always say yes, you risk becoming a slave to your own people-pleasing tendencies’
- no can be hard, but it’s nothing compared to the stress and overwork that come from always saying yes.”
I guess he had not read the book … The Power of Saying No As an Aspiring Leader
You can also read the book preface with the link below…
Preface from the book: The Power of Saying No as an Aspiring Leader
