By Jane Wesman, President of Jane Wesman Public Relations, Inc.
Everyone knows that you can’t grow a business without a team. Yet too often entrepreneurs focus their attention on everything except team leadership. But effective leadership is the fuel that sparks business growth. When you lead well, people will embrace your vision, support your goals, and join you in building your company. You’ll find that you’re no longer alone on your journey to success.
The Power of Authenticity
What does it mean to lead well? Authenticity is key. Being an effective leader involves looking both inward and outward for answers, whether you’re trying to solve a large problem or a small one. You need to have a deep understanding of yourself and what drives you, while at the same time viewing your work as being part of a bigger whole, as a mixture of synergies that involves many other people. You may be the creative force behind your company, but you need other people to make it a success. Here’s what it takes to be an effective entrepreneurial leader
- Know Yourself – Entrepreneurial leaders know who they are deep within themselves and what is meaningful to them. They embrace purpose in their lives and work – understanding why they started their companies and why they lead. They recognize how their business fits into their industry and their community.
- Have a Vision and Be Able to Articulate It – Entrepreneurial leaders have a vision of what their business is all about: what it does, how it serves its stakeholders, and where it is going. The vision cannot be vague. An entrepreneurial leader must be able to articulate this vision, so that others are inspired and will work together for a common goal.
- Develop Employees and Help Them Grow – Entrepreneurial leaders are committed to their workforce. They help employees develop their own talents and skills. Employees make a commitment to you, when you make a commitment to them. An entrepreneurial leader also knows that it’s essential to help employees grow, so that the business can flourish into the future.
- Listen Carefully – Entrepreneurial leaders always listen to employees, clients, mentors, and others. They make decisions based not only on their own understanding of the facts and situations, but also based on what they are hearing. This is how they create a productive workplace, while providing clients and customers with the products and services they need.
- Implement New Ideas – Entrepreneurial leaders are willing to innovate and take risks – in good times and bad. The business climate is always changing. Being flexible and finding opportunities to launch a new initiative, a new strategy, a new product or service is key to business success.
- Take Good Care of Yourself and Stay Curious – Entrepreneurial leaders take time for themselves and for being with family and friends. They relish vacations, hobbies, and interests outside of work. Entrepreneurial leaders set aside time for contemplation – to be able to see their business through a different lens. But most importantly, they stay curious. An entrepreneurial leader is always interested in what is going on in the world and NEVER STOPS LEARNING.
Once you apply these techniques to running your business, to problem solving and decision-making, you will find that you have created a whole new paradigm for growth and accomplishment. Being an entrepreneurial leader is a powerful way to succeed in today’s world of rapid change and intense competition.
