A glance at the day’s headlines reveals a universal truth: Leadership matters. Whether uplifting and ethical or toxic and abusive, leaders profoundly shape our lives. And this is especially true on the job. Research consistently shows that leadership influences employees’ attitudes, behaviors and emotions, driving key organizational outcomes such as creativity, employee engagement, well-being and financial performance.

A few years ago, I conducted a survey to understand the most frequent leadership mistakes that contribute to employee disengagement. Hundreds of global employee responses highlighted key trends, revealing what often causes leaders to lose their teams’ trust and motivation. While not exhaustive, these are the top warning signs identified.

Workplace culture became a critical business topic a decade ago, with more executives and HR leaders recognizing that shared values and behaviors drive engagement, innovation, and performance. Building a strong culture, however, requires visionary leadership. One framework I’ve been using to develop leaders in my coaching and training practice is based on the seminal research of organizational leadership scholar Dr. Jim Laub.

When it comes to the stuff that strong relationships are made of, there is no more precious commodity than trust. It takes time to establish and can be broken in a heartbeat. But those who achieve the highest levels have demonstrated over and over again the same patterns of behavior that make building trust look easy. Be reliable. Fundamental to trust is reliability. If you say you'll do something, you'll do it.

When it comes to getting a promotion at work, several factors can either hold you back—or help you get ahead. Elements like your performance and experience play a crucial role in determining your career trajectory, as well as things out of your control, such as the number of available positions and budget constraints. But when it comes to personality, are there traits that might hold you back from getting promoted?

My social media algorithms would probably find me a confusing individual. One day, I'm left-leaning; the next, I'm right-leaning. One day, I'm watching a YouTuber who vehemently disagrees with another YouTuber who's been on my view list for the past few months.

But it's intentional.

In our fast-paced and volatile environment, every leader is now a change leader. The time when leaders could operate in isolation, focusing on the day-to-day without acknowledging the rapid pace of change, has long passed. Whether you're at the helm of a Fortune 500 company, a mid-level manager or an emerging entrepreneur, your role as a catalyst for change is more critical than ever before. But what makes a great change leader?

Have you ever had to work or interact with someone who just sucked all your energy? Maybe you can't put your finger on exactly why, but just being in the same room as this person made you feel tired, irked, or uninspired? I think most of us would answer yes to this question (with a specific example or two leaping instantly to mind), and that apparently includes scientists, too.

What makes someone a growth leader? In conversations we’ve had with business leaders, the answer tends to boil down to a variation of “I know it when I see it.” But it turns out that there is a specific set of attributes that growth leaders share. After carrying out a survey of 165 C-suite executives and senior vice presidents with growth responsibilities and conducting in-depth interviews with 20 executives, we found that growth leaders have seven specific beliefs and behaviors.

Here's a scenario that may look familiar. The product development team designs a wonderful new app. The client is positively stoked about rolling it out, and the PR team is building the campaign for its launch. And then this happens: The manager or executive in charge of the project steals the spotlight and takes all the credit for the work. No praise for the team, no celebration of everyone's success, no recognition of team members' contributions.

A colleague and I were discussing if it was possible to recover from being seen as possessing a significant flaw in honesty and integrity. We identified various people who had tried to improve their honesty and integrity and seemed to make some progress, but for most people, this seemed to be a pit from which there was no escape.

As John Maxwell likes to say, if people can’t get along with you, they won’t go along with you. As a leader, you will not be successful unless the team of people you lead wants you to be. As good as you may be, you can’t do it on your own. So, the answer to the second question in the title is, “yes,” you should do all you can to make people like you.