
Mistakes I made as a first-time manager

Contributed by Shawn Johal, business growth coach, leadership speaker and co-founder of DALS Lighting, Inc. He is also an active member of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization Montreal chapter.
“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”
–Albert Einstein
It’s almost hard to believe that I have been managing teams for more than 15 years. Time definitely flies!
I had the incredible privilege of being trained at one of the best schools for leadership in the world: Newell-Rubbermaid. As a business, it isn’t necessarily known for a dedication to improving talent, but I can say from first-hand experience they truly care about building each employee into a leader from the get-go.
I received weeks of leadership and sales training, learning from the industry’s best. They challenged me and pushed our entire team to always aim for higher goals.
In today’s fast-paced world, I often come across new managers who have never been trained for their job. The pattern often goes like this: