Why do we feel the need to prove ourselves once we've already earned the title? Jocko Willink and I discuss common leadership challenges—from the business world to the military—in the latest episode of A Bit of Optimism.

I think junior leaders feel like they have to prove that they're worthy of the title, worthy of the risk. You pick the right person. And that shows up in a little too much, a little too much. I used to tell the young junior officers, you have nothing to prove, but you have everything to prove. When you're in charge of a platoon, you don't need to prove to the platoon that you're in charge. You don't need to say, well, hey, we're doing it my way, or hey, this is my plan. You don't need to do that. In fact, it's offensive. Your credibility doesn't come from that. No. What you have to prove to them is that you'll listen to them when a decision has to get made. You'll take all the pertinent points in, and you'll make a good decision, and you'll be able to back them up. And you care about the team. That's what you have to prove to them. But you don't have to prove that you're in charge. So that's the guy that you're talking about that walks into the room and is like, all right, I better prove to everyone that this is my idea. Oh, prove to those above me that they hired the right guy. Exactly. For a junior leader, you're learning the fundamentals of leadership, which is you've got to take care of your team, rely on your team. I think as you become more senior, this attitude that you're talking about, it does something slightly different, which is now, and you said it, which is it teaches you open-mindedness.