Great leadership can exude from many different personalities and leadership styles. Just as no two businesses are alike, nor are the leaders within them. The key is to find the right balance of style and competence that fits your business.
Start with Core Values
Your culture, which is clearly articulated by your Core Values, will help attract the right leaders to your business. The top leaders of your company must live, breathe and become synonymous with your core values. This can’t be faked.
Great leadership styles range from tough/direct to the more gentle/encouraging and everything in-between. No one style is best. Use your company’s core values to help determine the right leadership style that fits your culture.
For example, one of my clients set a goal to double their revenue from $25M to $50M within 7 years. One of their core values is “collaboration.” Their strategy to reach $50M has revolved around strong collaboration among employees. This culture of “collaboration” has helped them stay on target and requires that all their leaders are natural collaborators. Their understanding of this has helped them stay on target to meet this goal.
Great leadership requires balance
Leading an organization to greatness isn’t only about leadership style. Your leaders must all possess the right skills and leadership experience to address the unique challenges of your business. These challenges can vary greatly.
What are the skills required to run a wealth management company? Chances are they’re quite different than the skills required to run a company like Amazon.com. And though one might assume that running Amazon requires much stronger abilities, the more relevant question is what unique leadership skills and business experience is required to run each business successfully.
For example, leaders of the wealth management firm must be proficient in building client relationships, managing and motivating wealth advisors, staying current with industry regulations and comfortable wearing multiple hats.
Jeff Bezos’s world is likely much different. First and foremost, his success is widely attributed to his strong visionary/experimentation tendencies. A company like Amazon must continuously evolve and push the envelope. But as a leader of a publicly traded company, he must also spend time developing confidence and rapport with Board Members and key stockholders. And of course, he must build and manage a team of leaders who are responsible for leading over 500,000 employees.
Great leadership must include the right style for your company (as driven by your culture), matched with the ability to meet the unique challenges of your business. Start with Core Values to get a clear understanding of the right leadership style and then work to attract leaders who also can bring the unique experience and expertise required to lead your business to greatness.
Learn more about how the EOS model can help you find the right leaders for your company. Contact us today at www.bluecoreleadership.com.
11710 Plaza America Drive, Suite 2000 Reston, VA 20190
703.278.CORE (2673)
Leave a Reply