This amazing entrepreneur is a writer, video instructor, speaker, and Forbes contributor. ​​Megan Bruneau is the author of How To Be Alone (and Together), the Host of The Failure Factor: Stories of Career Perseverance, and Therapist & Executive Coach at Megan Bruneau, LLC. Megan shares what it really means to be a compassionate leader, how to balance expectations with support, and the tradeoffs entrepreneurs during the hiring process.   Takeaways: Being a compassionate leader does not mean that you have to abandon having expectations or act overly sympathetic and empathetic to the extent that you’ll accept anything. Leaders need to fix their relationships with themselves. While they may think that being extremely self-critical is how to grow, it actually keeps them paralyzed because they are fixated on their flaws and unable to take the risk they need to in order to grow. Effective, compassionate leaders balance high, yet flexible, expectations for their team with a high level of support they provide to them. Authoritarian leaders hold extremely high expectations but provide little to no support to their team members. Make sure there is room in your company’s culture for imperfection. This enables your team to make mistakes, take risks, be more willing to grow, and be more accountable for their actions. This is because they are not driven by the fear of losing their jobs. When setting expectations, a lot of the initial vision is lost in translation from the leader to the team. That’s why it’s vital to ensure expectations are clear, realistic, agreed upon by all, and that there is a way to check in on them.  As entrepreneurs, part of the tradeoff you need to make when delegating something to your team is that they may not be able to do that task exactly the same or as well as could. Don’t get trapped by perfectionism, move on to solving bigger problems. If an issue arises with a client, you need to communicate with them and explain what the problem is and what you’re doing to fix it. Without hearing the real story from you, your client will make up reality in their head, which leads to bigger problems.   Quote of the Show: “Trust is the most important thing for any relationship, personally or professionally.” - Megan Bruneau   Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/megan-j-bruneau-m-a-rcc-4573b940/ Email: megan@meganbruneau.com  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meganjbruneau/  Company website: https://meganbruneau.com/  YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5EC_tOiVRKk3ftpqTdviuw  The Failure Factor: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-failure-factor-stories-of-career-perseverance/id1102773205  How To Be Alone (and Together): https://www.amazon.com/How-Be-Alone-Together-Yourself-ebook/dp/B08FRRZMSL/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1597346358&sr=1-1    Ways to Tune In: Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/b9436ea0-3e54-4c2d-a555-43e6ac890787 Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-impactful-leadership-show/id1608566236 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/39cdJjxlfGrGXreE7r8OBm Google Podcast: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkLnBvZGJlYW4uY29tL2ltcGFjdGZ1bGxlYWRlcnNoaXAvZmVlZC54bWw iHeartRadio: https://iheart.com/podcast/95281596 PlayerFM: https://player.fm/series/3352055 YouTube: https://youtu.be/03WBuZyanfk   The Impactful Leadership Show is sponsored by the DC Chapter of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization. Learn more at https://www.eodcnetwork.org/home    The Impactful Leadership Show is produced by Ringmaster, on a mission to create connections through B2B podcasts. Learn more at https://ringmaster.com/