Discover now if you have any of these characteristics to become the leader that your business needs to grow.–By Martin Zwilling
People who have worked for someone for a long time do not realize how difficult it is to be a leader. Every new entrepreneur must perform good deeds to be perceived as a leader in his business or the road to success will disappear. These actions or basic principles that great entrepreneurs like Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, and Phil Libin, CEO of Evernote, learned from the beginning.
These actions have helped them build trust among team members and give a good message to partners, investors, vendors and customers.
If you want to be like them, it’s time to look in the mirror and see how many of these actions or characteristics are already part of you and which ones you need to learn.
1. Has the ability to communicate where you are going and why. This requires to know who you are and what vision you need to have for change. Next, you need to be willing to communicate your vision to everyone around you. People will not follow you if they have no idea where you are going and what benefits they will enjoy too.
2. Feel passion and commitment for the cause behind your business. This conviction is what motivates all around you to be in your good and bad times. Building a business is more difficult than it seems. Seth Godin says that for an average business to succeed, it takes about six years.
3. Show experience in the field. In any business, it is not possible to substitute personal experience and skills acquired with any academic training. You must be a leader through example and show that you have knowledge of a certain subject so that people trust you.
4. Constantly strengthen relationships. No entrepreneur can build a business alone. Your network of contacts needs to grow with you and your business. It only happens if you have an active role in your community and people with relevant business associations.
5. Has the disposition to make decisions on time and act. Remember that a good decision on time is more likely to save your business than to decide very late. In general, any decision is better than not deciding anything. Smart entrepreneurs take a reasonable amount of time to consider all the alternatives before moving on and not looking back.
6. Practice self-discipline. People do not like to follow a leader who is unpredictable, inconsistent and always changes direction. Authentic leaders are willing to open up and establish a connection with everyone around them. This creates relationships of trust and loyalty.
7. Promote innovation and think “out of the box”. In business, this means having a creative mindset, taking risks and continuously improving. Do not expect the competition to force you to improve your products, lower your prices and improve customer service. Learn from your failures and mistakes..
8. Assign sufficient resources to overcome the limitations. Waiting to have good luck and pressuring people is not leadership. Being able and willing to allocate the necessary resources to win the small battles will give you victory in the end. This means hiring the right people, giving good training and tools and improving systems to overcome challenges.
9. Encourage the growth of the company and the well-being of the people. As a role model, you must continuously improve your own skills, be up-to-date to new things and sharpen your listening skills. It means helping others grow, not punishing them for failures. This also applies to suppliers and partners.
10. Always accept responsibility for the results and business. Leaders do not need excuses, like the country’s economy or competition. We all make mistakes, which is a consequence of addressing the new business challenges. The good news is that no one is born as a leader, all these habits and mentalities can be acquired over time.
Leadership does not come with success, but success does come with leadership.
