Your resume can look incredible... But it means nothing if people hate working with you. I have met people with: • 20 years of experience • Big titles and big salaries • Impressive companies on their CV Yet one conversation with them and you can feel the disrespect in the room. ➟ They interrupt. ➟ They roll their eyes. ➟ They talk about people, not to them. ➟ They use “high standards” as an excuse to be rude. Here is the uncomfortable truth: Experience multiplies your impact. So if you treat people badly your experience just helps you do more damage, faster. The leaders people never forget are not always the smartest in the room. They are the ones who: 1/ remember your name and use it 2/ listen until you finish your sentence 3/ give feedback without making you feel small 4/ own their mistakes instead of blaming the team 5/ fight for you when you are not in the room No fancy development program can fix a basic lack of respect. You can teach someone strategy, systems, finance, tech. Teaching them to care about humans is a lot harder. If you are proud of your years of experience ask yourself a harder question: Would people who worked with you say they felt seen, heard and safe around you? Or would they say "your ego was louder than your empathy"? Because at some point in your career how you treat people becomes the real performance review. Skills get you promoted. Character decides if anyone is happy you are in charge. 💬 Agree or disagree? Comment below. ♻️ More people need to hear this today. Share it with your network. …And follow Christopher Rainey for more.
I agree with this in principle, but the outcomes of this kind of behavior depend on the organization. Unhealthy work cultures can proactively encourage or passively condone "jerk" behavior. Waiting for character to win out in those cultures is like hoping for a beach day in Antarctica.
A strong résumé might open doors, but how you treat people decides whether those doors stay open. You can’t lead well if people brace themselves every time you walk into the room. Respect isn’t soft, it’s the infrastructure that makes every skill you have actually matter.
True leadership isn’t measured in expertise but in empathy. The ability to lead with humility and respect is what turns influence into genuine impact.
Some of the most decorated résumés mask the very behaviors that quietly erode trust, morale, and long-term influence. Experience is only an asset when it’s paired with character. Without that, all the years, titles, and credentials do is amplify the damage. The leaders people remember are not the ones with the biggest accomplishments but the ones who made others feel respected, supported, and heard. Respect, presence, and humility travel farther than any technical skill. In my own career and especially throughout my CHRO job search, I’ve seen how often organizations underestimate this truth. Teams will follow competence, but they stay loyal to character. The real question every leader should ask is not “How strong is my résumé?” but “How do people feel after working with me?” That answer determines impact more than any title ever will.
This is the lesson people learn far too late. Technical excellence gets attention, but human excellence earns trust. The leaders who rise now are the ones who pair capability with character, and create rooms people want to walk into, not escape from.
Exactly. A leader's true level isn't measured by titles, but by how they make their team feel. Many executives master strategy, but stumble in communication and presence. Leadership is about influencing without humiliating. That's where the elite stand out.
I believe many leaders confuse being human and treating others with dignity and respect as a sign of weakness, when in reality, it is the opposite.
Character shows itself in the tiny moments most leaders never pay attention to. The way you listen, pause, and respond ends up shaping your entire reputation long before your achievements do.
Skills can open the door to a promotion, but your daily behaviour defines whether people actually choose to follow your lead and collaborate.
This post resonates deeply. Throughout my career, I’ve had the chance to work with leaders who lifted people up and others who taught me, by contrast, exactly what I never want to become. Today, as I grow and lead my own teams, I make a conscious effort to avoid the behaviors I once experienced the ones that made people feel small, unheard, or unsupported. Leadership is not about titles or tenure. It’s about how people feel when they work with you. I’m committed to creating an environment where our teams feels respected, valued, and safe to grow because that’s the standard real leaders should be measured by, even if that growth one day takes them to another company. Supporting people’s development means accepting that their journey may go beyond us, and still doing our best to help them rise