No job is beneath you. In a similar vein as killing your ego, be eager to jump in and get dirty with your team. Garrett St. John
Read the full article: Humility in leadership.
I’ve been enjoying Garrett’s Technical Leadership email newsletter — they arrive with perfect timing for certain issues I’m dealing with at work and at home. If you lead technical teams — or work in any group setting — I highly recommend it as a resource. You can sign up for Garrett’s newsletter here.
The Sensible Leader 
When my mother was in the ICU a few weeks ago, she started shivering in the middle of the night so I padded over to the nurse station. There was only one person there, which wasn’t too surprising given the time. I asked her if I could have a blanket for my mom, and she looked at me blankly and said, “Oh, I’m a doctor, you’ll need to find someone else.”
I was so shocked I just stood there for a moment and stared at her, but by then she’d already turned back to whatever she was looking at on her computer. Finally I roamed the ICU and found either a nurse or a tech — I couldn’t tell from their badges and frankly, who cares? — who kindly located a stack of warm blankets for me.
“Humanity in leadership” is the key to that entire post you linked to above. Thankfully, the attending physician at the ICU during the day is not at all above fetching blankets, replacing leads, or even turning down the thermostat if a patient or family member asks. I’ll be handwriting a letter of gratitude to the university and will specifically mention that physician’s name as an example of a true leader and healer.
Perhaps it’s something that should be taught in medical school, but really, why does compassion, generosity, and empathy have to be taught at all? If someone is hurting or needs help, and you’re in a position to help them, then why should it matter what your title or position is?
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Thank you for sharing, Marjorie. This is a perfect example of how I see “no job is beneath you” — especially if the job is right under your nose. My favorite examples recently are a restaurant owner pitching in to clear tables and refill water glasses on a busy night — and a seeing a team lead at Automattic taking out trash at a meetup so the team members can continue their brainstorming session without interruption.
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Thanks for recommending the newsletter, Lance. I liked the short form content. Subscribed.
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