Status anxiety makes leaders petty. Secure people don’t need to win every tiny contest.

Pettiness is almost always fear in a smaller outfit. When you are unsure of your place, every tiny contest starts to feel like evidence, so you correct people, you hold on to credit, you need the last word about nothing. People who feel settled skip all of that, not because they are nicer but because none of it threatens them. From outside the difference looks like character.

Catch yourself the next time you are about to correct something small. Ask what you are afraid it would mean to let it go. Then let it go once and see what actually happens.