BE YOUR VERY HIGHLY INDIVIDUAL WEIRD SELF

This article (The Offbeat Habits of 7 Famous Leaders (Infographic)
http://www.lifehack.org/610515/the-offbeat-habits-of-7-famous-leaders-infographic-ap-pinterest-infographic?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=talktokununu&ref=e )  led me to think about the CEO's I worked with and some of their "Offbeat Habits".  My point is to encourage you top leaders to have some quirks and flavor that suit you. If not bizarre or inappropriate (hate to even have to say this) they become a kind of personal hash tag that your associates enjoy. You are a person with your own habits and it makes you real and not role bound.

Here are some that became endearing:

—A CEO of an electric utility ate with the custodial staff everyday when in he office to get away from 'work'. He also insisted on going out with crews during disasters of any kind--like an enthusiastic kid not like a CEO inspecting work. Crews kidded about who would win him in the next hurricane or blizzard. He was one of the smartest CEO's I worked with and was universally loved.

—Another CEO when musing about a big dilemma (and that is mostly what is on a CEO plate) would head for his car and visit his retail businesses and do errands and stay in the car until he saw a clear path. People would say, "Watch out, He's in the car again."

—A CEO with a smoking habit he didn't like took his breaks with all of the other smokers huddled together outside the building. People loved to kid him about it and he sure found out what was going on in his company.  He was charismatic and well-spoken but when passionate about what he was saying, he would accidentally kind of spit. People brought umbrellas to the first row of a large meeting and opened them when he began to speak. Loving teasing.

—Here's one more.  One CEO who hated meetings but had an open door always would manage to get rid of people quickly by standing up and meeting people at the door and talk in the doorway, no matter what the topic. If she stayed seated, then people knew he wanted to chat and laugh and argue baseball teams. People would ask, "Did you get a doorway meeting or a sit down?"  

I snuck in a game of solitaire on the computer either after or before a tough meeting and would play til I won if at all possible. I never closed my door except to do this and so everyone knew, (besides my admin told them). Before a meeting people would ask, "Did you win?"  

So be real. Go ahead and have your unique goofy habit.  PS--I advise this only if you are competent and have a lot of goodwill in your pocket. The right to be eccentric has to be earned.