People have many different definitions.
Here are some definitions on my view:
• Leadership is guiding and showing the way for other people and helping them
work together to find direction. It's getting people to cooperate and do things
together. It means you can lead a group. • Leadership is the ability to be looked upon as a role model.
• Being a leader is being able to stand up for what you believe in. It means you
help to make new ideas, you don't just follow old one.
• Leadership is the ability to lead people or represent them. It all starts with
responsibility. Your actions not only affect you, but everyone you represent.
5 Keys to Leadership for Small Business
Are you a leader just because you run a small business? No. But you need to be. Without
leadership, the ship that is your small business will aimlessly circle and eventually run out of power or run aground.
It’s not having followers that define leadership. Cool-headed, farseeing, visionary, courageous
– whichever adjectives you choose, leadership is a winning combination of personal traits
and the ability to think and act as a leader, a person who directs the activities of others
for the good of all. Anyone can be a leader, even if the only person they’re leading is themselves.
But you can’t become a leader just by saying you are. Leadership needs to be worked at.
Transform yourself into a leader with these five keys of leadership.
1. A leader plans.
The core of leadership is being proactive rather than reactive. Sure, leaders are good in crises
– but that doesn’t mean they sit around letting crises develop. Leadership involves
identifying potential problems and solving them before they reach crisis proportions –
and the ability to identify and reap potential windfalls. So good leaders analyze and plan
and adapt their plans to new circumstances and opportunities.
2. A leader has a vision.
Vision is essential to good leadership. Vision provides direction and without direction, there’s
not much point to all that planning; your small business will still flail about. So if you
don’t have one already, take your first step towards leadership by creating a Vision
Statement for your business. Because it embodies your dreams and your passions, a
vision statement will also serve as a leadership vision.
3. A leader shares her vision.
Sharing your leadership vision helps your vision grows and your leadership develop. As you
tell your leadership vision to others, you will strengthen your own belief in your vision
and strengthen your determination to make your leadership vision become reality. And
other people will start to see you as a person who’s “going placesâ€. Your leadership skills
will grow as you and other people recognize you as a person with leadership potential.
4. A leader takes charge.
At this stage of leadership, you put together your planning and your leadership vision and take
action. Whether it’s implementing a specific plan to improve your business’s bottom line
or responding to a crisis, you, as the leader, are the one who makes the decisions and
sees that the appropriate actions are carried out. You can’t just “talk a good game†to be
a leader; you need to act and to be seen as taking effective action for the good of your
small business.
5. A leader inspires through example.
If I asked you, you could easily name three people whose leadership qualities inspire you. If I
asked you why, you’d tell me about the things these inspiring people did or are doing.
Leadership is defined through action. Therefore, in developing your own leadership skills,
you have to act in ways that are fitting to your leadership vision and your self – all the
time. We can all name many actions of other people whom we admire, but what inspires
us is the integrity that gives these actions meaning.
Becoming a leader isn’t easy because it takes a conscious commitment and consistent effort to
develop one’s leadership skills. But on the positive side, anyone who is willing to make
the effort can become a good leader.
And as good leadership is critical to business success, your efforts to improve your leadership
skills will be amply rewarded. By working on these five keys of leadership, you can
become the leader your small business needs.
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