The Spirit of the Season - The Holiday Leader

The holiday season has a way of testing leaders on a levelthat has nothing to do with numbers or dashboards. It tests our spirit. Ittests our presence. It tests the heart of who we are and the kind ofenvironment we choose to create for the people we lead.I have spent twenty six years in retail. I have livedthrough holiday seasons where everything felt like it was on fire and seasonswhere we moved so in sync it felt like we were running a championship offense.Through all of it I have learned something simple and undeniable. The holidayseason reveals the heart of leadership. Not the title. Not the metrics. Not thenoise. The heart.When the pace accelerates and stress rises and everyone isjuggling more than we can see, uplifting leadership becomes oxygen.