The single most critical component of your business isn't your product, your team, or your market—it's you. Your psychology will drive your business forward or hold it back. As any good professional executive coach will tell you, the greatest chokehold of any business is the psychology of its leader. On the flip side, extraordinary leadership is the X factor that will give you an edge over your competitors.
Leadership is not a quality you are born with—it's a decision. Great leaders are made. They are made through dedication, focus, hard work or the school of experience.
At its core, true leadership is the ability to influence the thoughts, emotions and actions of others. It's the most important skill a human can master and a skill you'll continually develop. Great leaders never become complacent; they maintain their edge by perpetually learning and honing their skills.
"Change is a fundamental law of nature. Everything is either growing or dying. The same goes for human beings."
If you want to be the kind of leader who drives your business to new heights and makes a difference in the world, you must dedicate yourself to constant growth and improvement.
The good news is that personal growth not only leads to success but also adds joy and meaning to life.
"Progress equals happiness."
Commit today to growing your leadership skills daily, and you'll experience increased success AND fulfillment.
Here are seven tips for improving your leadership skills, whether you are an experienced executive or a new entrepreneur.
1. Redefine what leadership really is
Society has conditioned us to believe leadership is tied to a position or a job title. But we've all had bosses who are not good leaders, and influential people who have changed our lives without any official role.
That's because leadership is more than a job title—it's about impact.
Anyone can be a leader, regardless of their job or title. Leadership is the ability to influence and inspire. The best, most effective leaders are here to serve. Serving means using your skills to serve a greater good. It is knowing your purpose and integrating it into everything you do. Companies united behind a greater purpose have strong values, are more productive and have fiercely loyal employees and customers.
Extraordinary leaders don't need to continually seek the validation and approval of others because they know that it isn't about them. Their confidence in their vision is so strong that they can move others emotionally and lead by example.
They treat employees as valuable members of the organization. Happy employees then go out of their way to serve customers. This is how great leadership creates raving fan employees and customers. Satisfied customers go away. Raving fans stay.
2. Crush your limiting beliefs
All of us have stories we tell ourselves about who we are and what we are capable of. You may not realize it, but these beliefs can propel you forward or hold you back.
You strengthen your leadership psychology when you replace negative beliefs with new, empowering ones.
Here are some common limiting beliefs and empowering beliefs to help you grow.
- "I'm not enough—not good enough, smart enough, skilled enough."Every leader has struggled with feeling that they aren't up to the task. Oprah Winfrey felt that she was too poor, too damaged and too black to be massively successful. But she pressed forward anyway. She said, "I still have impostor syndrome. It comes and goes. But I've learned to do the work anyway." Instead of getting hung up on what you don't know, remind yourself of what you are capable of learning. A more empowering belief could be, "I am not ready yet, but I will learn."
- "I don't have the money or resources." Nobody has all the money and resources they want. But it's not the lack of resources that causes failure—it's the lack of resourcefulness. The truth is that you will always find a way when you have a strong enough reason. Instead, tell yourself "Everything I need is already within me. I already have the creativity, connections and discipline to make my dreams reality."
- "I don't measure up." Comparison is the ultimate energy killer. There will always be someone ahead of you, and that's ok. Don't measure yourself against someone's chapter 20 when you are still on chapter five. Instead of shrinking away, learn. Focus on your purpose and ask yourself, "What can I learn and how can this inspire my next massive action?"
3. Be honest with yourself
You can't chart a path forward if you aren't honest about your abilities and shortcomings from the start. Whenever you examine a map, the first step is to identify exactly where you are. This lets you find the most efficient route to where you want to go.
The same is true for your direction in life. Being brutally honest with where you are in life is how you find the quickest route to where you want to be. Identifying your weaknesses and gaps in your skill set is not something to be ashamed of, and it opens the door for you to improve.
If you are having difficulty seeing what skills you lack, you can ask a trusted friend, a mentor or a coach. Their feedback will help you focus your learning and skill development exactly where you need it most.
Being honest with yourself also includes recognizing your unique strengths and skills. This will help you know where you can have the greatest impact and which skills you can leverage to grow your business. Business coaching and mentoring are valuable resources that will help you identify your weaknesses and strengths.
4. Study the success of others
No matter what field you are in or what your business goals are, somebody else has done it before.
Success leaves clues.
If you want to be successful, study those clues and model your actions on those who have succeeded before you.
Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Sara Blakely, Oprah Winfrey and Tony Robbins all credit their success to the support and advice of mentors. You can seek out role models and mentors for various aspects of your life, including health and finance, relationships, leadership and entrepreneurship.
With the help of a mentor, you can make massive progress without replicating the lessons they learned through trial and error.
5. Take massive action
Education and goal setting will only take you so far. Insight and clarity are just information without action. Execution trumps knowledge every day of the week.
"Knowledge is NOT power. Knowledge is only POTENTIAL power."
Will you get it right every time? Of course not, but every mistake moves you closer to your goals if you are determined to learn from them.
In today's competitive and changing environment, having a business plan isn't enough. You need to have a MAP—a massive action plan that keeps you anchored to your vision but charts out several paths to success. A strategic MAP allows you to take action and then pivot and make adjustments when one approach doesn't work.
As a leader, you must be willing to take action and do the right thing for your business, even if it is hard or unpopular. That might mean ending ineffective or unnecessary positions, learning a new skill outside your comfort zone or discontinuing a product you love but your customers don't.
Be willing to slay your dragons and do what is best for your customers and your company. It may not feel good in the short term, but the long-term results will be worth it.
6. Learn from failure
One of the biggest obstacles business leaders face is their fear of failure. If you can overcome this fear, you will open yourself up to endless possibilities for growth.
One of the best ways to overcome the fear of failing is to recognize that mistakes and failures are not crises, but opportunities to learn. Tony Robbins has said, "You have to fail to be successful." Failure and mistakes are some of life's greatest teachers. Instead of thinking of failures as obstacles, view them as stepping stones to your goals.
As a business owner, consider failures as data points. You don't have to attach emotional significance to your setbacks. It is simply feedback from the market. For example, if you launch a product and nobody buys it, that doesn't mean that you aren't capable or that your business isn't successful. It is just a piece of evidence telling you that you need to tweak or reinvent your product. You are actually a step closer to understanding your customers better.
7. Enlist the help of mentors or coaches
We mentioned previously how mentors can be valuable when you study and apply the lessons learned from other successful leaders.
If you don't already have a mentor, or even if you do, hiring a business coach is an investment that will pay off multiple times over. A coach can help you with all of the leadership development strategies above and will fast-track your professional development.
To be a great leader, it isn't enough to have communication skills and savvy business sense. You must have a WHY—a greater purpose to inspire your team and keep you going when things get tough. Business leadership coaching will guide you as you hone your vision and get crystal clear on the purpose behind your business.
A coach offers an outside perspective on your business that is impossible to replicate on your own. When buried in the day-to-day tasks of running a company, it can be challenging to see your business clearly. A coach has the experience of working with hundreds of other companies and leaders, giving them the ability to quickly identify your weak points as well as your strengths.
Once you understand your purpose and your direction, a coach has the strategies, tools and experience to guide you as you take massive action. A coach keeps you accountable on your journey and celebrates your growth along the way. With the partnership of an experienced coach, you'll continue to progress as a leader, helping you reach your personal and professional goals in record time.
