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Citywide Home Loans has teamed up with an amazing charity to help build classrooms for thousands of children in southern Mexico. Want to help? We will donate $1 for every new LIKE on Facebook! But you’ve got to hurry! There’s never been an easier way to help!

Exercising workplace leadership doesn’t automatically land you at the top of an office-popularity contest. You probably think you’re a good boss, unless you’re suffering from a deficit in self-esteem. But what if your underlings or even your peers hold to a different opinion?

Business leaders often face tough decisions that may lower their popularity ratings among their subordinates. Running a business typically doesn’t operate on the popular vote. Maybe it is time to pull out that mirror and engage in some self-introspection to see how you measure up as a boss.

Here’s the first question: Do you lead your people? Don’t assume your subordinates understand your vision or your day-to-day directions. No one else save you is responsible for ensuring clear communication is occurring at all levels of the company.

Question number two: Do you exercise dynamic leadership, wielding your power to effect change in your company’s culture? Gone are the days in which staff members could choose to cultivate their own private fiefdoms [PDF] with no concern for the company. Those who did tolerate such behaviors likely aren’t in business any longer. For-profit organizations must function as an integrated organism, especially in an era of leaner operations.

Good bosses devise ways to channel that instinctual self-interest into the work of crafting stellar products or services in exchange for certain rewards. This certainly will not happen if a manager fails to command and lead. Left to their own devices, staff members will operate opportunistically based upon their own interests.

Do you tolerate mean-spirited workplace bullies, who sap the morale of other workers and create a depressing atmosphere? Workplace bullies should either shape up or ship out, but the boss has to be the one to stand up to the psychological warfare such individuals typically wage. Employees will often go to great lengths to appease a dominating personality.

People by their very nature are territorial, short sighted and self-serving, when left to their own devices. Although it’s true a small dose of self-centeredness contributes to the drive to succeed in business, don’t stand back while a workplace dispute morphs into a vitriolic campaign waged against another employee.

Here’s the last question: Have you stood by, while workplace silos colonized more and more turf, until employees finally gave up and disengaged? Silos create psychological barriers to collaboration. Workers erect these silos to impede information flow in a grab for more power. It’s up to you to ensure those barriers to communication and productivity will be dismantled.

In short, good bosses are proactive, engaged and have their eye on the big picture. Aim for nothing less.