Do you know the significance of today's date in American history? If you look back at the Inauguration dates of early American presidents, you'll notice that many took the oath of office on March 4th.
According to Wikipedia, "The first inauguration of George Washington took place on April 30, 1789. Subsequent public inaugurations from 1793 until 1933 were held on March 4th, the day on which the federal government began operations under the U.S. Constitution in 1789. There were some exceptions in 1821, 1849, 1877, and 1917, when March 4th fell on a Sunday, thus the public inauguration ceremony took place on Monday, March 5th. By 1932, the five-month lag between elections and the start of a Congressional session and presidential term was problematic, so the passage of the Twentieth Amendment moved the date to January 20th. Therefore, since 1937, it has taken place at noon Eastern time on January 20th — except in 1957, 1985, and 2013, when January 20th fell on a Sunday. In those years, the presidential oath of office was administered on that day privately and then again in a public ceremony the next day."
To celebrate today's tie-in to leadership, I'm sharing the five best leadership posts I read last year. Titles, authors, and highlights follow — and links are provided at the end. I hope you also find leadership inspiration from these five posts.
SHARE THIS: If you don't defend your team, you're not a leader. ~Anonymous via Gregg Vanourek #LeadershipInspiration #DebbieLaskeysBlog
14 WAYS TO HAVE YOUR TEAM'S BACK AS A LEADER by Gregg Vanourek
Gregg wrote, "Taking responsibility is key. As a leader, you must own not only your actions and results but also those of your team. When something goes wrong, you don't point fingers — even if someone clearly erred. You take responsibility while handling the issue privately to shield your people from embarrassment and blowback. Mistakes are painful enough without public shaming. By doing this, you show that you're addressing the problem and fully owning what happens on your watch."
Gregg then shared 14 ways to have your team's back as a leader. The full list is provided at the link at the end of this post, but here are my favorite five:
* Jump in when someone is overloaded and find ways to help them.
* Invest extra time to prepare a direct report for a big meeting, ensuring they can perform at their best.
* Avoid questioning your managers’ decisions in front of their teams to protect their authority.
* Defend an employee facing discrimination or favoritism.
* Defend a worker caught in a turf war between divisions.
SHARE THIS: When you have your team's back as a leader, you unlock powerful benefits: greater trust, loyalty, motivation, and retention. And a team more willing to take risks and innovate. ~Gregg Vanourek #TeamWork #Leadership #DebbieLaskeysBlog
THE BEST LEADERS ACKNOWLEDGE THEIR MISTAKES by Ahron Friedberg, M.D.
Aaron wrote, "When leaders assume responsibility, they take ownership of a situation, managing it in as many dimensions as necessary so that problems are resolved and all the moving parts operate in sync...Of course, everyone makes mistakes. Leaders sometimes make the mistake of thinking they're not supposed to make mistakes. So they fudge and backtrack. They deflect blame and offer excuses. But responsible leaders acknowledge mistakes and set about fixing them. In this sense, they take the long view. They understand that, down the road, people will respect their transparency and appreciate the proactive effort that, ideally, made things right (or, at least, better)...Everyday leaders who commit themselves to working with people — not just handing down orders — can recover from their mistakes, take on new responsibilities, stand up for ethical imperatives. They address problems in an organization as they would in their own lives: not passively, with a palpable indifference, but actively and with a commitment to do whatever it takes to succeed. They forget about their comfort zones."
How many leaders do you know who acknowledge their own mistakes and forget about their comfort zones?
WHAT DID YOU LEARN? by James Strock
After sharing a personal story, James wrote, "I regard the question, "What Did You Learn?" to be compelling, potentially transformational. I pose it to myself and others constantly. I ask it after successful or disappointing interactions with others. I ask it about relationships. I ask it after meetings or presentations. In fact, there's never a time I'm not asking it to myself and others...It’s a question that I use to challenge myself all the time...You might even want to write it down to provide greater detail, richness, and methodical creativity into the biography of the person you're becoming."
James shared examples as to how important the question (and answers) can be:
* What did you learn in your recent work experiences?
* What did you learn from your customers?
* What did you learn from your employees?
* What did you learn from your competitors?
* What did you learn from your last meeting?
* What did you learn from your most recent accomplishment?
* What did you learn from your most public failure?
THREE REASONS TO NOT FALL IN LOVE WITH YOUR OWN IDEAS by Joseph Lalonde
Joseph shared three reasons why leaders should not fall in love with their own ideas. He explained, "It's hard to put an idea that we love to pasture when we feel it could have such a big impact. However, if the idea doesn't pass the test of feasibility, someone has a better idea, or customers don't want it, then you may have to set your idea aside. [But] don't worry. There are plenty of other ideas for you to chase. They'll come to you when it is time for you to pursue them. Just remember, don't fall in love with your ideas."
This is a very important reminder for all leaders because their ideas are not always the best ideas, so they must welcome ideas from team members.
HOW TO UNCOVER YOUR BLINDSPOTS TO BECOME A MORE EFFECTIVE LEADER by Eric Jacobson
Eric wrote, "What you don't see about yourself can hold you back as a leader. That's typical for many leaders. What we don't see is what we can't see: we have blindspots. Your blindspots prevent you from achieving your greatest success." In this post, Eric shared his review of the book entitled, "Blindspotting: How To See What's Holding You Back as a Leader" by Martin Dubin (published in July 2025).
In the book, six types of blindspots were detailed plus guidance to identify and manage them. The six types were: identity blindspots, motive blindspots, trait blindspots, emotion blindspots, intellect blindspots, and behavior blindspots.
Eric shared Dubin's final comments, "We can't avoid blindspots; we can only become aware of them, and then adjust. And to be clear, there is not one type of leader, or one set of attributes. There are many combinations of identities, motivations, traits, intellectual abilities, emotional sensitivities, and behavioral characteristics that can result in success or failure. The lesson of the book isn't about becoming someone other than who you are; it's about becoming the best, most self-aware, most flexible and adaptable leader you can be, without hampering the magic that led you to be able to get where you've gotten in the first place. It's really all about being conscious and strategic with what is within your power to adjust. And you can adjust, make no mistake. People can change."
My gratitude to these amazing leadership experts for writing these posts, and I look forward to their insights during 2026. What leadership posts from 2025 stood out as memorable to you? Chime in and share.
Image Credit: Library of Congress.
Learn more about this post's image:
https://www.loc.gov/item/rbpe.2050400e/
Check out these Presidential Inauguration Addresses (on March 4th and other dates):
https://historyinpieces.com/research/presidential-inauguration-dates
Gregg's post:
https://triplecrownleadership.com/have-teams-back/
Ahron's post:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/resilience/202511/the-best-leaders-acknowledge-their-mistakes
James' post:
https://servetolead.com/what-did-you-learn/
Joseph's post:
https://jmlalonde.com/3-reasons-to-not-fall-in-love-with-your-own-ideas/
Eric's post:
https://ericjacobsononmanagement.blogspot.com/2025/12/how-to-uncover-your-blindspots-to.html
