Do you ever look at the world around you and get the feeling that more effective business leadership is needed? Yeah... us too!
If so, is it because of:
- All of the CEOs spinning their wheels but not going anywhere;
- Seeing so many high-potential businesses that never get off the ground; or
- Feeling like you're personally not living up to your own full potential as a CEO?
Regardless of the reason why you feel that way, your feelings are totally valid. Now more than ever, the world needs strong, effective leaders, and we're sharing 5 top reasons why that's the case!
That being said, take this as a clear sign that it’s time to develop yourself as a leader and perfect your own leadership style. The moment you commit to becoming a better leader is the moment that you open countless doors of opportunity for yourself and your business.
At the end of the day, you can have the best business solution ever, but without the right leadership, you'll never rise to the occasion!
1. Effective Leaders Uproot the Pervasive Fear of Failure
Is there any worse feeling than the fear of failure?
Probably not. On top of that, the fear of failure is more pervasive in the business world today than ever before.
Why?
Because, people in the business world base fear on possibilities rather than probabilities. When you base fear on what is possible rather than probable, it's a recipe for disaster.
For example, it is 100% possible for a salesperson to make a cold call and have the person on the other line to say 'you're stupid, go away!'. However, while that is possible, it isn't necessarily probable…
*enter an effective business leader*
Great entrepreneurs have strong leadership skills related to self-awareness which allows them to:
- Become aware of their fears and those of their team
- Take a step back and assess whether the fear is based on possibility or probability
- Transform fear into a more positive emotion
Remember, it is 100% possible for your roof to cave in on you, but is that probable? Strong leaders know exactly how to uproot the ultra-pervasive and damaging fear of failure for good!
The Fear of Failure Is More Common Now Than Ever Before
So, the fear of failure is more common than ever before because people base fears on possibilities rather than probabilities.
But, why do they do that?
They do it because they care so much about what others think of them. Thanks to outlets like social media, people fear that if they fail, it won’t be a secret! As a result, they become hypersensitive to failures that, while possible, are totally improbable.
Top level chief executives have the leadership skills that it takes to set those fears of judgment aside. They're able to help their team deconstruct fear and turn it into something positive.
It's less about eradicating fear (which is truly impossible), and more about transforming it into a positive emotion.
Fear Drives Customers Away
Top leaders thoroughly understand this all-important fear equation: When a leader feels the fear of failure, their team will sense it. As a result, the team will lose confidence in themselves and start to feel fear. As a result, their potential customers will sense it, lose confidence in them, and then head for the door.
The fear of failure and strong business results cannot coexist!
Furthermore, fear isn't just a poor feeling that nobody likes to experience… On top of that, it’s a total business potential crusher.
Bottom line: Leaders understand how palpable fear is and do what it takes to eradicate it from themselves and their team.
2. Great Leaders Know Where and How to Channel Energy
You know that feeling of running around like a chicken with your head cut off because you've got so much work to do but don’t know where to start or what to do with your energy?
That running-around-like-a-chicken-with your-head-cut-off feeling is not only terrible, but leads to extreme inefficiency.
Given that we live in a world full of stimuli and sources trying to grab our attention at all hours of the day, it only makes sense that the feeling is so pervasive these days, just like the fear of failure!
Not only that, but when you know that you've got work to do but don't know where to start, you become overwhelmed and your potential starts to sink.
Fortunately though, the best leaders understand where and how to channel their energy and that of their team in order to get the best business outcomes possible.
Vision, Business Strategy, Goals
Want to know the true, beneath-the-surface reason why leaders and their teams feel strung out not knowing where and how to channel energy?
It's because they put goals at the center of everything they do and then spend all of their days chasing them. In the end, not only do they not achieve their goals, but everyone in the work environment feels exhausted and unfulfilled.
Despite what you read about in books or see on social media, goals aren't everything. Rather a business vision is everything! Unless a company defines a clear vision, develops a strategy to manifest it, and then creates goals to fulfill the strategy, almost all energy goes to waste.
At the end of the day, goals simply don't give you a clear enough picture of what direction a team needs to head in. Therefore, chasing them leads people to put energy into the wrong outlets.
The best leaders understand that if you want to know exactly how to channel energy, you first need a clear vision!
Create Goals Based On Energy Input
Once a leading entrepreneur sets a clear vision for their business, they understand exactly which direction they need to head in and what it will take to get there.
Moreover, they and their team don't have that running-around-like-a-chicken-with your-head-cut-off feeling!
However, while they know that goals aren't everything, top leaders don't completely abandon them as a part of their success equation.
Instead, they first clarify their vision, then develop a strategy, and then finally set goals based on energy-input!
One of the key reasons why so many leaders and their teams don't smash their goals is because they grossly underestimate the amount of energy it takes to achieve them.
That being said, the best leaders keep themselves and their team on track to achieve goals by crafting them based on a calculated amount of energy it will take to accomplish them.
In the end, everybody knows where to channel their energy and how much of it to use in order to manifest the vision!
3.The World Needs Immediate Solutions From Fulfilled Leaders
Here's a question for you: Are you fulfilled as a CEO in your current leadership role?
And, no... We're not asking if you're happy in the present moment. Rather, we're asking if you're fulfilled.
To put it simply: If you're not fulfilled doing what you're doing, then odds are that you will:
- Never be totally enthusiastic about your work
- Never realize your full potential
- Pull your team members and customers down with you
This isn't rocket science... If you don't find fulfillment as a business owner or leader, then not only will you personally feel terrible and never achieve what you’re capable of achieving, but you'll also pull everyone around you down with you.
Why?
Because, feelings are palpable! If you feel bad, then everyone else will feel bad.
And sadly, if everyone is feeling terrible, how do you expect your team to produce the kinds of solutions that your customers need? On top of that, what kind of customer wants to work with sad and unfulfilled people?
At the end of the day, the world needs leaders who find fulfillment doing their work. When they’re fulfilled, everyone around them rises up to their level, and the world gets the solutions it needs!
Good Leaders Bring Out the Best In Their Team Members
A company, including its team members, is a reflection of its CEO.
Therefore, excellent leaders bring out the best in their team to create the most impactful business solutions by showing up as the best version of themselves!
Leaders understand that they can't ask their team to do something that they're not personally doing themselves. For example, they wouldn't ask their team to pump themselves up for a sales meeting while they go in like the walking dead.
The most successful businesses are a reflection of the most successful CEOs! Great leaders understand this, so they go to town bringing out the best in their team by bringing out the best in themself.
In short: They lead by example.
Fostering a Growth Mindset Company Culture
In addition to leading by example, the best leaders foster an ideal company culture to draw out their team member's best traits. This particular kind of culture is called a growth mindset culture.
In a growth mindset culture, everyone on the team shares the belief that one's skills can improve and develop if they focus on self-improvement. To put it more simply, it's when everybody believes that with personal development, you can improve.
When the entire team is on board with this idea, the business inevitably improves and provides more effective solutions that the world seriously needs.
In the end, not only does the entire time improve, but the CEO also becomes a better leader in the process.
4. Education Is Common, Problem Solving Skills Are Rare
Here's a somewhat hard to swallow fact for you: The world is currently filled with many highly-educated people who don't know what to do with their education, including business owners.
In fact, there are countless CEOs out there with all the business leadership skills in the world, yet they still:
- Struggle to become the type of leader they want to become
- Don't know how to solve the problems that they started a business to solve in the first place
What gives?
Here's the thing: While having an education is very common these days, having an education doesn't necessarily mean anything if you don't know how to apply it to everyday business scenarios. More specifically, it doesn't mean anything if you don't know how to solve problems with it!
That being said, there is a fine line between being just a business owner, and being a business owner AND leader. On one hand, if you're just an owner, you probably have more than enough education to go around. On the other hand if you're both an owner and leader, you have an education and know how to use it to solve problems.
Bottom line: The best leaders are more than just educated... Rather, they're educated and know how to use it to solve problems that the world needs solved.
The World Has Lots of Problems That Most CEOs Can’t Fix!
We will give it to you straight: The world has many problems that need to be fixed!
Thankfully, entrepreneurship was invented to solve those problems. Yet, as we already mentioned, most entrepreneurs don't have the necessary problem-solving skills to solve those problems.
Of course, the exception to that rule is the business leaders who focus less on gaining as much skills and knowledge as possible and more on how to make use of the knowledge and skills they already have.
When it comes down to it, which business school you went to or who mentors you doesn't matter! What does matter though is if you know how to use your education to solve problems.
Only the best leaders understand this... And as a result, they’re the ones who end up solving some of the business world's most complex and important problems!
Leaders Know How to Get On the Level of Decision-Makers
When it comes down to it, you can't solve a problem for someone who doesn't realize what the problem is or that a problem even exists in the first place.
That is, at least, unless you're a top tier business leader who understands how to get down to the level of their potential customers!
One of the key reasons why top leaders are so successful is because they understand how to communicate with their prospects. By that, we mean that they:
- Understand how to use their power to make it clear that there's a problem
- Know how to clearly articulate the issue at hand by coming across as an expert
- Understand the way that their potential customer's decision-making process works
What good is a leader in business if they're unable to prove to their potential customers that they're the ones with the solution for them? In short... They are no good!
Top-tier leadership is necessary because the best leaders understand how to come across as an expert to their prospects. When they come across as an expert, prospects don't question them!
In the end, more problems get solved because the leader understands exactly how to get down on the level of their prospect to solve a clear problem at hand.
5.Successful Leaders Spread Enthusiasm
There's no question about it: The world could use some more enthusiasm right about now.
And, what better person to help bring the level of enthusiasm up than a solid leader in business?
While every successful entrepreneur gets a different start in the world, many of them share the same kind of journey filled with ups, downs, triumphs, and periods that seriously test their will. Moreover, every entrepreneur shares the hero’s journey.
It's that journey and the story behind it that can help spark the light of enthusiasm throughout the world.
But, before going any further... What exactly is enthusiasm?
Enthusiasm is an intense feeling of joy that is far more special and intense than just happiness! You will know that you are enthusiastic about something when you fall down and get back up feeling more motivated to succeed than you were before you fell down.
For example, solid leaders make mistakes all the time, but when they rise back up, they don't feel like they want to quit. Instead, they want to work even harder than they did before.
Bottom line: Successful business leaders are enthusiastic about what they do. That enthusiastic energy is infectious, and it’s exactly what the entire world could use right now!
Effective Leadership Is About Making Others Feel Good
Never forget that people are far more likely to remember how you make them feel rather than what you say to them. Therefore, if you can make somebody feel good by spreading enthusiasm, you hold serious power!
Strong and effective leaders, empower themselves by empowering others through enthusiasm.
The way that they do that is by:
- Staying true to their own hero's journey
- Listening before talking
- Helping others when they can't help themselves
Ultimately by sharing enthusiasm with the world, that positive energy cycles right back around to the business leader. They understand that in doing better for the world, they also do better for themselves.
Final Thoughts on the Importance of Effective Business Leadership
If these 5 reasons don't convince you that business leadership is of the utmost importance to business success AND motivate you to develop yourself as a leader, then maybe this reminder will: You can be the smartest CEO ever with the single-most revolutionary business idea of the century, but without the right leadership, you and your business will never lift off the ground.
Leadership development is like the bridge that'll take you from where you are now to living out the vision you've always had for yourself and your business. When will you finally step up to the plate and become the leader your business (and the world) needs?
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