The week leading up to the New Year is a great week for reflection.. My first leadership experience was when I worked at FedEx Ground; I was 18 years old. I wasn’t a manager, but I had responsibilities and supervised people. I earned that because of my quick development and smarts, I didn’t have someone to mentor me.

Which is why I made mistakes. And the leadership mistakes I made were never pointed out to me, at least not all of them, so I could correct them. My mentality back then, and still to this day, is I did the opposite of what I disliked; specifically, what I disliked in my own manager’s leadership style.

With that said, here are 5 mistakes I made early in my leadership journey:

1. I made decisions that impacted people before getting to know them and the full context of the situation;
2. I didn’t ask questions when I should have;
3. I avoided conflict when certain things should have been addressed;
4. I did too much myself limiting the abilities of others;
5. Instead of pursuing excellence, I pursued perfection.

I’m sure I made more mistakes back then. How about you? Can you relate to any of these? Any others you would add?