Great Leadership Matters

It is my favorite saying and one of the founding principles of my consulting practice. I have the privilege of working with great CEOs every day. CEOs who are pushing themselves and their businesses to grow, thrive and bottom line … be great. Working with these business leaders I have seen firsthand how great leadership really does matter and perhaps even more strikingly how poor leadership does real harm.

To me leadership is about:

• putting the needs of your customers your employees, your investors ahead of your own
• getting the best from your team
• gathering the right information to enable you to make tough decisions quickly
• communicating clearly with everyone
• Develop your own support network

Now I am a practicing consultant and not an academic. So when looking at Entrepreneur Magazine this month I was pleased to see the cover proclaims that great leadership is directly tied to increased profits.  They highlight 9 ways to improve your leadership skills and these align fairly well with my 4 keys above:

• Encourage employees to disagree with you
• Don’t Micromanage
• When people err, don’t destroy them
• Show compassion
• Vow to be constantly learning and curious
• Know yourself
• Be Laser Focused
• Get rid of poor managers
• Practice leadership skills daily

What I find interesting is that there are two consistent themes here:

• External focus on people (encourage, support, show compassion, don’t tolerate poor performance, communicate)
• Internal focus on YOU (know yourself, be laser focused, practice, build support network)

So I believe great leadership is developed by understanding ourselves and focusing on others; good thoughts for us all.