Why I Love Working With Leaders Who Have 'Rounded Corners'
By Tara Miller
Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of working alongside some extraordinary leaders. When I reflect on those who have left the most lasting impact on me, I often describe them as having what I call “rounded corners.”
This phrase has become the shorthand I use to capture a quality that is both subtle and deeply powerful. Rounded corner leaders are not soft or indecisive. They have a core of steel, but their strength is tempered with compassion and humility. Just like a smooth edge invites the touch, these leaders welcome collaboration and, ultimately, trust.
What Are Rounded Corners?
Think about a square with sharp edges. If you bump into it, you’ll feel it immediately. Leaders with sharp corners are often highly effective and driven, but sometimes they can leave bruises. Interactions may feel transactional or one‑sided, and people walk away careful not to bump too hard against them next time.
Now imagine that same square with rounded edges. The experience of engaging with it feels welcoming, more human. Rounded-corner leaders still set clear expectations, but they deliver them with curiosity and kindness. They prioritize performance and people.
Lots of people have experiences that could turn them into rounded corner leaders.
It could be something as profound as losing a child, friend or partner — or as simple as being awake half the night for a couple of weeks taking care of someone, while still having to perform at work the next day. Anything that changes your life into ‘before’ and ‘after.’
These moments don’t harden rounded-corner leaders; they sand them down. They create perspective that grounds reactions. If you’ve sat in a hospital waiting room at 2 a.m., a late slide deck won’t unhinge you. If you’ve had to start over after a job loss, you understand both fear and resilience in a way that shows up as empathy for others.
Why Rounded Corners Matter
We live in a world where uncertainty hovers around every bend in the road. Leaders who rely solely on authority and sharpness may drive results, but rarely do they build resilience. Teams that follow them can burn out and disengage.
Rounded corner leaders, on the other hand, foster cultures where people feel safe to take risks and admit mistakes. When the edges are rounded, the team knows it won’t get cut down for trying. Curiosity is rewarded, and growth is possible.
I love working with these types of leaders because they unlock a balance many organizations struggle to achieve: the balance between driving toward ambitious outcomes and honoring the people who make those outcomes possible.
What is perhaps most surprising about rounded-corner leaders is this: I’ve noticed that teams led by these kinds of leaders are more innovative, more cohesive, and ultimately more productive because they’re not spending energy protecting themselves from the jagged edges of authority.
And here’s the truth: Life will eventually hit all of us in a way that changes us forever. None of us escape hardship. That’s why I don’t dismiss sharp cornered leaders; I just recognize they just haven’t had their “rounding moments” yet. Our role isn’t to excuse poor leadership forever; it’s to model what it looks like to lead with both clarity and compassion, so when their moment comes, they know how to emerge softer, not harder.
A Personal Reflection
Earlier in my career, I believed leadership meant always having the sharpest edge, and I gravitated toward leaders who embodied that mindset. Burnout and turnover, I believed, were just a natural part of working hard.
Over the years, I’ve learned some lessons about the hardships of life, but one that thoroughly sanded me down was when I was pregnant with my third child, Cora. I had full placenta previa, hemorrhaged multiple times, and was hospitalized for weeks. The doctors even had to sit down with me and my husband to have the talk about the decisions we might have to make. By month five, I was on bed rest.
And still, I worked. But I worked differently. I had a new perspective: a delayed project was not a crisis, a tough meeting was not life-or-death.
I even had to learn how to let people help me. Friends and family putting away dishes not in my orderly way, or hanging Christmas decorations in places I would never put them. (So hard, I tell you!) But it taught me something leadership books never could: Rounded corners mean you accept imperfect contributions with gratitude instead of control. That season didn’t harden me — it softened me.
Over time, through both positive examples and unpleasant ones, I discovered what a profound difference rounded corner leadership makes. One of my mentors could correct a mistake without diminishing my confidence, and she never confused candor with cruelty. Working with her taught me that people rise higher when they feel both supported and challenged.
That was a turning point. I realized the leaders I wanted to emulate and surround myself with were the ones who softened edges purposefully, without losing clarity.
Loving rounded-corner leaders doesn’t mean dismissing firmness or sidestepping accountability. Quite the opposite: these leaders prove you can be visionary and approachable, demanding and fair. They model that leadership is not about cutting the fastest path, but about creating an environment where others want to walk with you.
Rounded corners, I discovered, lead to more enduring progress than razor-sharp perfection ever could.
About The Author:
Dr. Tara Miller is a founding Partner of Artemis Factor, a strategic project management and transformation management consulting firm that works with many of the largest pharmaceutical companies. Her expertise extends to Device, Life Sciences, and the broader Healthcare sectors. Tara has launched more than half a dozen innovation incubators within the pharmaceutical industry, and has been instrumental in removing barriers to execution via agile, design thinking process, from ideation to low fidelity prototypes, and through MVP to launch and scale.