Leadership

As an entrepreneur, it’s important to understand the difference between being a “manager” and being a “leader.” They are two distinctly different roles with two very different skill sets.

First, some basic definitions:

A leader is someone who provides guidance and direction, someone who has experience and showing others the way forward toward a goal.

A manager is someone who takes a more hands-on and direct approach. To manage implies more direct control than leadership. Rather than focusing on high-level goals, a manager helps people successfully fulfill responsibilities & job duties.

 

As an entrepreneur, you are continually adding knowledge to your data base – your brain. Whether you know if or not, you are continuously challenging yourself in way that you never thought were possible.

According to Jack and Suzy Welch “…being a leader changes everything. Before you are a leader, success is all about you. It’s about your performance. Your contributions. It’s about raising your hand, getting called on, and delivering the right answer.

When you become a leader, success is all about growing others. It’s about making the people who work for you smarter, bigger, and bolder. Nothing you do anymore as an individual matters except how you nurture and support your team and help its members increase their self-confidence. Yes, you will get your share of attention but only inasmuch as your team wins. Put another way: Your success as a leader will come not from what you do but from the reflected glory of your team…”.

WOW! What a POWERFUL statement. TEAM PLAY! If you refer back to the Coaching section, I discussed fundamentals. What do fundamentals have to do with Leadership? EVERYTHING!

Companies that regularly & relentlessly pursue and stress fundamentals also happen to have Leaders and Leadership within their company. There is a TEAM atmosphere AND the owner is willing to work on him/her-self to change. This can and many times does, lead to change within the company. The owner that can lead the company into a new and dynamic change environment, is an owner with foresight and vision, an owner that wants to take his company from good to GREAT. THAT owner that is a LEADER!

In his book, The Highest Calling Book, Larry Janesky lays out several strong Leadership statements:

To GROW your BUSINESS you have to GROW yourself

Those not willing to change, live a life like anyone else… those that will accept RISK and step OUT of their comfort zones, and continuously LEAD, live a life like no one else.

IF you have not figured this out by now, this is NOT “just” about working on your business … it is about working on YOU!

 

We have ALL heard about “Leading by example”. The question is, how or where do you find those examples. One way is by reading. Reading from core leadership authors like John Maxwell. He has written numerous books on Leadership. Another is to work with someone who has been where you are and can take you to another level. Someone that can Coach, Teach and Train you on many topics that will bring out the Leader in you! The only thing you have to do is open the door to YOUR success!

So, ask yourself these questions:

Do you TELL your employee’s & manage them “hands on with a direct approach”?

OR

Do you Coach, Teach and Train them giving them the tool set to become successful not only at what they do for you but for what they can become themselves?

IF the answer was yes to the first questions and no (or maybe) to the second, we are sure that we can help you and your company because THAT is what we help you to do!

To YOUR Leadership Success!