How to develop your business leadership skills

If you want your business to run smoothly, you need to be organized, detail-oriented and methodical.

But inspiring your staff and getting the best out of them? That’s a whole other ball game. That’s where you have to use your leadership skills.

For some of us, leadership comes naturally. But if you’re not especially comfortable taking charge, don’t worry. With practice and dedication, you can develop leadership skills too.

What are good leadership skills?

So, what makes a good business leader? Bill Green, CEO of LendingOne and author of All in: 101 Real Life Business Lessons For Emerging Entrepreneurs, thinks great business leaders have the following traits in common:

1. Self-awareness

Do you understand what you’re good at and where you need to improve? If you know your strengths, you can keep building on them. Similarly, if you know your weaknesses, you can address them.

2. Decisiveness

Former US President Barack Obama once joked that, upon leaving office, he’d open a t-shirt shack in Hawaii. The shack would stock only white t-shirts, size medium. That way, he wouldn’t have to make any decisions.

The point here is that leaders have to make hard decisions all the time. So, if you want to be a good leader, you’d better get comfortable with the idea.

3. Fairness

This means treating everyone equally based on a set of clear and consistent principles. As much as you might want to look at every situation on its own merits, that would make it hard to be effective in a fast-paced business environment.

To quote Bill Green himself:

“As a leader, you don’t have the luxury of looking at each and every situation, conflict, or personal issue with a detailed eye. What’s more important is having principles and practices in place that ensure you reach positive desired outcomes, faster. This means handling internal company issues with clearly established principles that are fair to all.”

4. Enthusiasm

As a leader, you’ll find others looking up to you to take charge and show them the way. It’ll be hard for them to do so if you’re not setting the right example.

Says Green:

“No employee will want to work for someone who doesn’t embody the same characteristics they’re being told to have and hone themselves… As a leader, it’s your job — not to tell, but to show — those around you what enthusiasm looks like…”

5. They earn their staff’s respect

If you’re constantly having to pull rank to get your staff to do as you say, you’re doing it wrong.

SMS Marketing’s Mike Dan says: “A great leader does not lead by forcing people to follow. Instead, a great leader motivates people. They encourage others to follow them.”

6. Knowledge

To be an effective leader, you need to stay on top of every aspect of your business. And that includes keeping abreast of current trends.

How will you be taken seriously if you don’t know what you’re talking about?

7. Vision

Great leaders set ambitious goals. But, more importantly, they have the confidence to keep working towards them even when others voice doubts.

Shortly before the first iPhone launched, Marc Andreessen — co-author of Mosaic, the first internet browser — had dinner with Steve Jobs. As they waited for a table, Jobs took out his iPhone prototype and started showing him its features.

Andreessen said: “Steve, don’t you think it’s going to be a problem not having a physical keyboard? Are people really going to be okay typing directly on the screen?”

To which Jobs replied: “They’ll get used to it.”

Guess who was right?

8. Resilience

Like everything else in life, your business is going to go through ups and downs. And part of being a good leader means rolling with the punches.

Says Green:

“You won’t have all the answers. You won’t always know where to move next. You’ll have your wins, and you’ll have your losses. But through it all, you can’t lose your sense of confidence. You have to always believe in yourself and your ability to see things through to the end.”