Have you ever noticed that some people give you energy and some people literally suck the energy right out of you? I remember years ago sitting across from a ‘friend’ at a restaurant. We were 45 minutes into brunch and she was on a diatribe about how miserable she was at work, how her boyfriend was driving her crazy, how her art wasn’t selling. As I sat across from her, a thought went through my brain ‘I am really not enjoying this.’ I realized, in that moment, that she was sucking out all my energy and giving nothing back in return and that this was the overall pattern of our friendship. Energy vampires come in many forms, from difficult clients to challenging direct reports to peers that are constantly politicking. One of the keys to managing an energy vampire is to set up boundaries around what you will and won’t put up with. Boundaries feel uncomfortable for ‘people pleasers’ like me, but over the long-term are crucial for creating more positive relationships with the people in your life.
#leadershiptruth
