Thread: Being a Leader
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GlobalWealth
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There are several good posts here, but there is one thing that seems to be missing.

If you run a company, or are the boss at work, or have a family, or are in any other head role, you are a leader. But the question is, "are you a good leader?". You can run your company and be bad leader, but you are not realizing all the success you could if you were a good leader.

A good leader:
Leads by example
Does what he says, says what he does
Sees the bigger picture
Leads by his vision and brings others into the vision
Gets his hands dirty when necessary
Lets subordinates do their job

A bad leader:
Leads by fear
Is inconsistent
Focuses on the negative
Is unwillingly to "get in the trenches"
Micromanages

Certainly there are other things to add to both lists, but if you have traits of a bad leader, you need to find a way to change your ways. You will never have a loyal team, or likely a team that stays, with those traits. Many of us probably have good and bad traits and we are all a work in progress, but if you can honestly evaluate yourself and determine your weaknesses, you can begin to correct them.

One other thing worth mentioning is success. An entrepreneur should never feel guilty for achieving success. Always remember, you are the risk taker and you deserve the rewards for your success. Of course you have a team of people supporting your business (if you have employees), but they are paid a salary, benefits, bonus, etc for their work. They did not take the risk and they do not deserve the large reward. As you accumulate wealth, this will become an issue at one point or another as you will have a longstanding employee who says something like, "I have been with you for 6 years building this business, I deserve to make XXX$." While this may be painful, this should be his last day. Let him go. He has now reached a mental point of entitlement and a feeling of being your equal. (of course this is assuming he is being paid a fair salary for his job). He is not your equal. He did not max out his credit cards, 2nd or 3rd mortgage his house, and live on ramen noodles for 3 years. He did not take the risk and doesn't deserve the large rewards. This is where a good leader makes the hard decisions.

My final thought on this is the good leader makes those hard decisions. They are called hard decsions for a reason, they aren't easy. But your job as a leader is to protect the company and the livelihood of your employees. You will be forced with making a decision like mentioned above at some point and it will be in the best interest of you and your company to make the hard choice. I had a manager working for me a few years ago (he was actually family to make it worse and worked for me for 8 years) and he made some bad choices and one of our biggest clients (about $3m/year in revenue) told me they no longer wanted that person involved with their account. I could have kept him with the company to deal with other accounts, but that was the wrong decision. It would have set a very bad example for the company and shown other employees I was more interested in nepotism than business. I fired him. It was tough, but it was right for the company. A good leader will be faced with choices. Your team looks at you to see how you react. Make sure you set the right example.

Bobby Casey - GWP - My Blog - LinkedIn - FB
Domestic and Offshore Asset Protection
 
 
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