Mary -- big thanks for sharing a compelling leadership moment story! That incident speaks volumes about your boss and you.  To me, he failed his moment and you aced yours.

From my perspective, making ourselves uncomfortable by making our voices heard is an unassailable component of leadership. Sometimes doing what's right sadly doesn't make us popular with the powers-that-be.

Your line, "be willing to be messy, to not be perfect, " is another one of those lines, as Paula describes them, that should be tattooed everywhere!

Smiles and thanks for sharing!

Jane