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How to Become a Successful Business Leader

Guest post by: Carrie Langstroth

Article Overview: : It is not difficult to become a successful business leader. All you really need to do is be yourself and yet exert authority when needed, and enforce a sense of decorum in the workplace without stifling employees. Sounds like a next to impossible thing to do, but it should come to you easily once you’ve got the hang of it.

How to Become a Successful Business Leader

Everyone has the potential to become a leader; which is a good thing, given the dire need of good bosses who would actually serve as guides rather than overbearing emperors.

Here's how you can win hearts and still get your point across:

• § A good leader is a good planner: And, a good planner is one who has foresight and takes charge. It is of no use spending time, money and effort chalking out plans if you aren't informed and well equipped to deal with constant ups and downs in the marketplace. When you are leading a team or an organization, the onus is on you to, in the words of Bob Marley, get up, stand up. Don't just sit there and wait for someone else to put your plan into action, you need to take that first step.

• § Vision and clarity: An automobile is useless unless there is a terrain on which it can be used. In much the same way, a plan is about as worthless unless it is molded by a vision. True leaders are true visionaries, and business leadership requires you to have a well defined, realistic goal that breathes life into every plan you seek to implement. Share your professional dreams with your employees or teams, because in doing so they will believe in your potential as much as you do.

• § No 'talkathons' please: No one wants a leader who loves to give lofty speeches but does zilch when it comes to actually practicing what he/she preaches. You need to be seen as someone who talks the talk and walks the walk as well.

• § Make everyone feel involved: Unless you have set out to become a modern day Attila the Hun and want to exercise overt control when it comes to sharing information, you would do well to make each member of your small business feel like they are a valuable part of your decision making process. Ask them to give their inputs, encourage them to provide solutions and new ideas and yes, admit your mistakes, if any. They need to know you are human, not Superman.

• § Show appreciation and mean it: You may think all it takes to boost employee morale is to keep thumping them on their backs until they finally get slipped discs. However, in reality, giving them little tokens for their appreciation and recognizing merit by providing a raise, promotion, or a bonus would go a long way in establishing their confidence and faith in you as a leader, and giving a 100% to the business.

• § Be eager to try out something new: A common problem with many leaders is that once an idea or strategy turns out to be successful, they tend to fall back on it a bit too often. This makes your employees think you are 'stale' when it comes to accepting new challenges and doing things differently. Don't trick yourself into falling back in that safety net of something that's been tried and tested; the hallmark of a visionary is to take risks when needed and to expect the unexpected with true optimism.

With these basics in mind, you should also remember that it is imperative to lead and assess yourself while you are guiding others. It is alright to falter sometimes, and a good boss will always have the courage to accept his/ her mistakes.

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Article Tags: business leader, successful business
Referred by: http://jaykubassek.com



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Books for Women Entrepreneurs - There's a thread for good books in the Resources folder, but it doesn't target books for businesswomen particularly, so I figured I'd start such a thread here. It doesn't matter how successful you are in your business - it's always possible to learn something new. In subsequent posts I give Table of Contents and brief descriptions for various titles - most of them devoted to the businesswoman - and sometimes a review. If anyone else has read a review, or has read the book and found it useful, please comment! 1. The Old Girl's Network 2. Mother's Work 3. The 7 Greatest Truths About Successful Women 4. Pitch Like A Girl 5. Workplace Warrior 6. Treasure Hunt: Inside the Mind of the Modern Consumer 7. Contingency Planning & Disaster Recovery 8. She Wins, You Win 9. Napoleon On Project Management 10. Why Good Girls Dont' Get Ahead, But Gutsy Girls Do 11. Comeback Moms: How to Leave Work, Raise Children, and Restart your Career even If you Haven't Had a Job in Years 12. The One Minute Millionaire 13. Talking From 9 to 5 14. Soloing: Realizing Your Life's Ambitions 15. 101 Best Home Based Businesses for Women: Everything You Need to Know About Getting Started on the Road To Success 16. Work With Passion: How to Do What You Love for a Living. Revised and Expanded 17. Fail-Proof Your Business: Beat the Odds and be Successful 18. Confidence: How Winning Streaks and Losing Streaks Begin and End 19. Women Don't Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide 20. Millionaire Women Next Door: The Many Journeys of Successful American Businesswomen 21. Start Small, Finish Big: Fifteen Key Lessons to Start - and Run - Your Own Successful Business 22. Rewired, Rehired or Retired: A Global Guide for the Experienced Worker 23. The Martha Rules: 10 essentials for achieving success as you start, build or manage a business 24. The Essentials of Entrepreneurship: What it takes to create Successful Enterprises 25. Net Ready: Strategies for Success in the E-conomy 26. The Promotable Woman 27. Leave The Office Earlier: The Productivity Pro shows you how to do more in less time and feel great about it 28. The Work At Home Balancing Act: The professional resource guide for managing yourself, your work, and your family at home 29. Secrets of Six-Figure Women
My entry - 1. The Best Business Books Ever: The 100 Most Influential Business Books You'll Never Have Time to Read - this is a fascinating book about the history of Business theory, and I'd recommend it to anybody. 2. The Big Book of Small Business: You Don't Have to Run Your Business by the Seat of Your Pants, by Tom Gegax. Ditto. 3. PADI: The Business of Diving Book Okay, so this book won't be of use to anyone who doesn't want to start a scuba store, but I did, and this book was of course invaluable to me in reaching that goal.
Re: My 200 post - Well GT, You done it again, The Leader and now you have 1003 post, wow. Michelle and Trent, you are a winners too. WTG friends, you are an inspiration.
Re: What's 1 word to describe what your business will be in 2012 - Successful.
Blank text field might be better - Hi TheAnonymousMan, I like your idea! I'm assuming it would be similar to the status feature on Facebook where it might say "Kevin is ... " So I think having a blank text field in the profile box (and even "Leader" boxes on the left and top side of the forums if possible) might be more fun than just choosing from pre-set options from a drop down menu:D


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