L said that sometimes, it might not be a good thing when people described a leader as nice. I didn’t quite agree until recently.

The most important lesson I learned was that, sometimes, to build a good relationship with someone doesn’t mean that you have to be exceptionally nice. I simplistically believed that if you’re nice to people, relationships will begin with a good start. I was wrong because people don’t always reciprocate.

Anyway, a few things to ponder on as these lessons are equally important to both my career and personal growth.

1. Change is constant and inevitable. Everyone has a certain threshold of embracing change and it can be positive or negative, depending on how we look at change. Opportunity today comes from our ability to embrace and adapt to changes. Stay static, and we’ll be left in the dust. Change can be a very good opportunity for growth.

2. While the thermostats set the temperature of the room, thermometers rise and fall according to that temperature that is set. One of the key leadership challenge is that leaders set the temperature with the people they’re working with. If there are frustrations or conflicts at work, manage the atmosphere before it begins to manage you. Be a thermostat, not a thermometer.

3. Courage is resistance to fear. Since true courage is action in the face of fear, confidence can be developed and strengthened by try something new that takes us out of our comfort zone and expands our sense of possibility

4. Knowledge can be acquired while wisdom is the application of knowledge. Sometimes we are impressed by people who serve like a walking information repository. But it’s always the wise people who absorb those knowledge and apply them at the right place and right time. If wisdom is the ability of applying and taking advantage of knowledge, knowledge in itself will be just merely a tool of wisdom.