Leadership – Take it Personal! 

The ability to effectively lead is a crucial factor in the success, or lack thereof, of entrepreneurial ventures. By understanding and embodying what it takes to lead effectively, entrepreneurs can maximize their chances of success. To be successful and grow our business we must be strong in personal leadership. Leaders with this characteristic are people who lead themselves with strength and confidence so that others are inspired to join them. Personal leadership requires a commitment to balance and a sense of purpose and values. If you practice personal leadership you recognize that in order to teach and motivate others, you must first learn to teach and motivate yourself. To be a leader today you must be an agile learner and apply new skills and experiences as lessons are learned under first time conditions. A leader sets the example for employees and coaches them to excel. You may have heard the expression “fail forward”. This is the mantra for effective leadership. If nothing is tried, nothing happens. An effective leader tries, fails, learns, adjusts and tries again.

Business owners are naturally self motivated. Starting a business requires it. As our business grows, it gets tricky as we realize we need help. Many wait too long to hire someone. Finally, we take the leap and hire an employee to help us. At first, we feel a sense of relief. We say, “Now I have somebody that can handle those calls for me!” Let’s say we got lucky and the employee we hired is doing a fabulous job. We can’t live without him or her in that job, they are so good! Until the day that person comes to us to resign, for whatever reason, and a replacement is needed right away. We hire the next person and realize that the person that was doing such a great job didn’t create a “template” for the job. The new person doesn’t know what to do or where to start. So they do what they think needs to be done and it’s not as good as the first person. We start to pay attention to things we didn’t have to pay attention to and the business suffers. Two steps forward, two steps back.