These Deadly Sins should be a avoided at all costs. The after affects can be detrimental to the progress and growth of your organization:

Instilling Confidence

Despite the challenges of your organization, always communicate with confidence. How often do you walk out of a meeting and say to yourself, “If they only knew how screwed up we are”? It is fine to have those conversations with yourself, but not out loud. Even though your balloon is full, resist the temptation to communicate in any way that undermines the confidence of your team, customers or investors. Confidence does not mean that you are not candid, that you don’t outline challenges or that you create unrealistic expectations. Confidence is about how you deliver the message.

Never Talk Catastrophe

 There will be times you feel that you are on the brink of failure, at your wit’s end, too burned out to go at it. You have no money, and you have hit “the last straw” with a vendor, employee, investor or customer. Marathoners talk about “hitting the wall” at mile twenty. Try hitting the wall at mile 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7…Despite this, your communication can never include words like disaster, catastrophe, quit, falling apart or any of terms associated with the apocalyptic scenario running through your mind. To you, these may simply be expressions of your current emotion and some air coming out of your balloon. To others, these words are warning bells that may lead them to question their commitment to your vision. It’s not uncommon in a moment of frustration to say, “I want to run away and sit on a beach” or “We’re not going to make it.” These may be true emotions. They may persist or they may be fleeting. In either case, keep them to yourself. While the catastrophe of the day may be quickly forgotten, the lasting impression of these words will not. These words will stick in the mind of your constituents like a line from a B-movie you’d like to forget. Worse, it will impact their perspective. When your constituents believe you are successfully moving from point A to point B, they view a challenge or a tough day as only a speed bump to overcome. This can often be a rallying cry for an organization. Overcoming obstacles becomes a source of pride. However, when doubt sets in, this changes. It’s one thing for your people to work through the doubt that naturally comes with building a business. It is another to hear it from the mouth of their leader. Concerns that come with the territory of entrepreneurship, and that used to fall under the category “the nature of the beast” now become deal breakers—reasons to think twice. As hard as it is, eliminate these words from your public vocabulary, and share them only with your bottle of bourbon—and hope that the bottle doesn’t talk back.

Avoid cockiness

 To accomplish many of these lofty goals the job requires, as noted above, confidence. When that confidence shifts to cockiness, you run a great risk. There are times people do business with you because of your business value. There are other times they do business with you because they like you. When you demonstrate cockiness, you make customers and employees think to themselves, “Do I want to do work with this guy/girl?”

Yelling, Talking Over People and Cutting People Off

 I’d be lying if I said I nailed this one. Many times in meetings I felt that we were wasting time and that I was already past the issue. This caused me to cut people off and say “Got it.” It got so common that it became an office joke. Don’t do it. Raising your voice is the same. I know what you are saying, “But we just lost our biggest client.” Your people want to see you calm, cool and collected, especially when things are going wrong. Do your best to keep good manners even in the midst of chaos. That’s where it really counts anyway.

Avoid these deadly sins at all costs.