Sometimes one has to make compromises without letting others know. Parents often do this for their children or a spouse for their significant other. Such undetected compromises keep the family unit tighter and there is a quiet personal reward for making sacrifices for the betterment of a team. It can be very gratifying.

Often times, however, we make sacrifices for others and don’t ever let them forget about it. That’s keeping score with an expectation of a return someday. I have to say Asian parents are good at this, leveraging guilt to drive their children.

In the work place, a successful leadership team really makes all decisions based on the TEAM GOALS. An effective leader will compromise without expectations because it is the best thing for the team. Such a leader usually is part of a successful and highly functional organization.

In such an environment, those who are not fully aligned with the TEAM GOALS and who obviously has an ego that supersedes those goals is called out and held accountable. It’s a bold group of leaders who are willing to eradicate “artificial harmony” or “false congeniality” among themselves and strive toward selfless leadership.