Further to my earlier post, these are my remaining five tips for modern leadership.
6. Embrace change - learn from every experience. Often as a leader we will drive change, but more often it will be thrust upon us. Change is always an opportunity and we choose how we respond. Great leaders are positive and see the opportunities that change can bring for us personally as well as professionally.
7. Storytelling. There is an art to storytelling and it is critical to 'bringing people along for the ride'. Learn the art. Provide context. Illustrate the vision. Practice with each communication and you will be surprised at how quickly you will embrace this aspect of leadership. Start with your own story - how did you end up where you are? Where did you start from? What obstacles did you face? How did you overcome them?
8. Battle scars. Things will go wrong in your leadership career. That's OK. The best leaders have battle scars - they give you depth and experience that is invaluable. No-one wants to hire a leader who has had an easy ride, nothing has ever gone wrong for them and they have coasted into their position. Take risks. Fail fast. Learn. Move on.
9. Communicate. Care to confront. No-one enjoys difficult conversations, but confronting people when their behaviour isn't acceptable is the best thing you can do for them. As leaders, we have a responsibility to develop our people and we can't do that if we avoid difficult conversations and turn a blind eye to unacceptable behaviour.
Also, give feedback regularly. It doesn't matter how high up the ladder you get, people always need feedback. I have reported to five different CEOs in my career - one of them gave me nothing . I had a 30 minute meeting with him once a month and was typically done in less than 10 minutes. Such was the low level of interest he showed in me and my business. Compare that to the best CEOs I ever reported to, who were interested in me and my business, challenged my ideas and supported me in my role (ie they had my back). I know that I perform best and feel most valued when my CEOs were interested in me, my work and provided me with feedback regularly.
10. Know your numbers. Leading a business group requires you to understand the $$ so that you can make good decisions and identify what is working and what isn't working. Build a great relationship with your finance business partners and keep them informed of your plans at all times.
It sounds like a cliché, but leadership is journey and you never stop learning. What makes us great leaders is our ability to continually grow from every experience, be it positive or negative.
It goes without saying that the higher you climb up the leadership ladder, the more essential it is to have great mentors inside and outside of your organisation. These can be informal people you meet for a coffee to 'unload' every now and again, or more formal arrangements where you have a regular meeting and focus on navigating your career and being the best version of yourself.
