The most influential leaders in our lives are those who are not afraid to challenge us and push us to be better. A challenging leader doesn’t shy away from difficult conversations because they know that not only is a negative attitude, subpar performance, misbehavior, or being unprofessional potentially harmful to the company, but it is also harmful to you and your career.Avoiding difficult conversations is detrimental to your own success and professional growth as well. When you don’t correct a behavior, you are saying that it is okay. You are trading short-term comfort for the long-term health of our teams and businesses. Not having challenging conversations can lead to high turnover, loss of trust, disengagement, low-performance output, and/or low morale. Avoiding confrontation does a disservice to the person who needs to be corrected as well because it limits their ability to improve and succeed in their life and career.