Leadership Decisions That Stand the Test of Time
- 2 hours ago
- 3 min read
By Mikaela Kiner
I’ve spent over twenty years working in a variety of environments including large corporations, startups, and as an entrepreneur. I’ve worked with all kinds of leaders - arrogant, charismatic, and humble. My leadership style has largely been based on learning what not to do though I’ve also had some excellent role models along the way.
Leadership behaviors with a lasting impact generally come down to treating others with respect, and decision making. The best leaders advocate for their people and selflessly invest in their development and career growth. They make decisions based on values, balancing risk and reward.
I was fortunate in my first job at Microsoft to have a boss I admired. Joining shortly after graduate school, I didn’t know enough to negotiate my offer. One day he pulled me aside and asked why I had accepted such a low starting salary. Over the next couple years, he put his own reputation on the line and advocated for me to get multiple promotions which was a big exception in a company where promotions often took years. It was the first time in my adult life I had received this degree of advocacy and sponsorship, and I was incredibly grateful.
A few years later I returned from my second maternity leave, overwhelmed by the long hours and commute on top of raising my children. When I confided in my boss that I needed to seek out a company with better work-life balance, he contacted a former colleague and personally arranged for me to be interviewed at Starbucks headquarters, for the job I eventually accepted. It’s all too rare that managers put their team’s development before their own interest in retaining good performers.
The best leaders value the people around them, treating them as human beings and looking beyond their skillset and resume. They understand that relationships outlast reporting hierarchy and that many working relationships continue from one company to the next. This enables them to see the big picture and act with a generosity that benefits everyone in the long run.
Moving on to decision making, leaders are often faced with complex decisions, forcing them to move quickly with a lack of information. I experienced this personally when my own company had a small round of layoffs in the summer of 2025. Our revenue was dropping, and while layoffs are never easy, this decision hit our small team especially hard. Yet we knew if we didn’t make immediate changes it would continue to put the business at risk. Having hard, or what we call “spicy” conversations helped the senior staff speak candidly with one another about what wasn’t working and what needed to change.
We were transparent with the team about what we were doing and why, and treated people with respect. At the same time we had to analyze why we were below our target revenue and what kind of innovation was needed to help us bounce back. My co-owner and I were in a position many leaders find themselves in - responding to short term revenue pressure while working to firm up the company’s long term strategy. Having faith that the company would not only survive but would thrive again in the future helped us remain positive, as we worked to keep our focus on new goals and growth initiatives.
The hardest decisions a leader makes are those that will have a negative impact on others whether those are their employees, shareholders, or customers. Yet leaders must use their perspective to consider all options without losing sight of the big picture.
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