Don't Play Favorites

"It's lonely at the top" is a cliche, but as with most cliches, there's some truth behind it.

As a leader you need to avoid having favorites among your employees. That's tougher than it sounds, but if you've got a special connection to one or some of your employees, it's critical you at least avoid the appearance of favoritism.

You're going to have problems if you find you've got a few people you always seem to be with out of a much bigger group of employees. These might be friends, or they might be employees you trust the most or who are in the same creative specialty as you. If you find yourself "playing favorites" like this, you're really not helping yourself.

Why? Mostly, because it hurts your relationship with other employees. When they see you consistently talking with one person or a small group, the others may feel cut out. They're likely to interpret your actions as a sign that their opinions don't carry as much weight, that they aren't valued as much, This probably isn't what you mean, but that isn't always what's important. You need to pay attention not only to your actual intentions but to the perceptions others have as well.

It's easy for this to happen among Creatives. In the workplace, we're naturally drawn to people with similar interests, with comparable skills. If you find someone who thinks like you do, or who has a similar background or experiences, it's not uncommon to link up with that person. But in doing so you may not only be alienating others, you may also be limiting yourself to a single perspective and losing out on the diversity of ideas available form your workforce.

So, if you find yourself heading to the same person's cubicle so often that you're wearing a trough in the carpet, cut it out. You might feel comfortable with your favorites, but no one else will be.