With the ongoing elections beating at the heart of America, making a decision about who will be our leader comes to mind. What makes a good leader? We’ve seen this age-old question, maybe mulled it over, for as long as we’ve been in the business of business. There are theories, there are tests even, but leadership evolves and changes with the business culture and atmosphere of today….and tomorrow? As usual this is yet another aspect of business when what works today may not work tomorrow.
Leaders in various industries stand out to us…some are role models, others may have gotten that far by happenstance. Either way, people are beginning to mull this question over again so let’s take a thoughtful look into it. Often times we think of a boss or CEO as a good leader, or the obvious leader, but the ability to lead does not come with the highest ranking position. So what qualifies someone, in general, as a leader?
- Balance of positive versus negative. Is this a 50/50 percentage of good and bad? No. research has shown just one negative comment takes about five positive ones to counteract. This also applies to constructive criticism- lead with the good followed by constructive advice.
- Communicate effectively. Ask questions about how people perceive what you’ve communicated to them. Don’t assume that you are leader and everyone needs to learn your communication style. This also means co-workers communicating well with each other and within the organization you lead.
- Don’t be too busy…for anyone or anything. The problem with getting too busy is things begin to get overlooked. Maybe you forgot to tell an outstanding employee how good they did. Little things like that effect big things like performance.
- Always invest in people…clients and employees. People are your business no matter what business you’re in. In the age of Internet and lack of face to face encounters, one thing still remains, people are the face and voice of your business so make personal meeting and customer reviews a regular part of your business.
- Learn from mistakes. Sometimes it’s helpful learning from your competitior’s mistakes or another business, but you will always remember the mistakes you made so that is naturally great, and memorable, learning material. All CEO’s will confess to having to learn through some hard-earned whoops.
