More importantly, however, as a leader, you don't want to be the "resister." Most leaders will agree that the true value in their organization is their employees. As much as leaders believe this, how come it is so difficult to support new ideas when they come from the bottom up?

I learned a valuable lesson recently about how much of a "resister" I was. I value openness and transparency as a leader. In fact I was very proud of my "open door" policy. I welcomed any employee to walk through my door at any time of the day to share and discuss things that were on their mind, especially as it related to making improvements in the organization.  However, I was shocked one day when one brave employee said, "You have a great open door policy. I can come in any time and you appear to listen attentively. But I can never change you're mind? Therefore, what's the point of an open door policy?"

Some lessons take longer to learn. But today I'm trying to get to "Yes" more often.