Somehow, I ended up on this mailing list about leadership. The articles–put together by a local company–focused on teaching leadership and team building, and I always looked forward to reading them.
Last September, I took a few minutes to write the author and company owner. I told him that I enjoyed the articles, and said I had considered signing up for his seminars. I concluded my email:
“As a reader of many business books (Good to Great, Breakthrough Companies, Small Giants), I can appreciate your references to Polaris and themes aimed at helping businesses grow. Just my applause for a job well done.”
Guess what his response was?
Nothing.
Two months went by before another article appeared in my inbox from the author. At the conclusion of the article, he suggested that readers share their ideas and feedback. In fact, he welcomed it, he said.
Ah, he did, huh?
So, I wrote him again expressing my thoughts and informed him that I had in fact written to him once before–over two months prior, I told him. This time, he did write back with a terse response that didn’t feel like he welcomed my feedback at all.
I decided that maybe this guy wasn’t the person I should be learning leadership from, because the way I saw it was this “leader” offered more words than actions. So, I took action.
I unsubscribed.