April 2008
Monthly Archive
Thursday 10 Apr 2008
Success and The Leadership Factor
Oscar Wilde once wrote:
“Success is a science; if you have the conditions, you get the result.”
If one of your goals in life is to achieve material wealth and financial independence, one of the quickest and surest ways to achieve those results is through owning a business of your own. Period.
Owning a thriving and profitable business beats investing in the stock market, speculating in real estate and other money-making ventures.
But even though a lot of people realize this and try their best to start and run their own businesses,
Creating a successful business is not a random event or occurrence. It doesn’t matter if you generate five million dollars a year in sales or fifty thousand. You still need to follow key success strategies and tactics in order to grow and remain profitable.
The truth is that successful business owners of any size business do things profitably different. No question about it. As a result, these goldmine business owners get away with what I like to affectionately refer to as “business murder”!
On average, they charge higher prices, earn more money and profits, and do it all in less time than their less successful counterparts. They don’t just survive. They thrive!
Yet sadly, most people never make it past their first 12 months in business. In the United States alone, estimates indicate that nearly 1,800 businesses go bust each and every day!
…That’s one business failure every 48 seconds!
The fact is, anywhere from 65% to 75% of all new businesses fail within their first two to five years. Some types of businesses (like restaurants) have an even higher (and swifter) failure rate!
Think these figures won’t pertain to you?
Here’s another fact: Business failure does not discriminate!
The statistics prove that it doesn’t matter who you are or where you came from. It doesn’t matter what your level of education is or how much money you have. It doesn’t matter where your business is today or where it was yesterday. No business is immune to a bad decision, an aggressive competitor or an economic slowdown.
In order to succeed and stay successful, it’s imperative that you have the specialized knowledge and skills it takes to deal with a variety of business situations.
One of those skills is…. LEADERSHIP.
If you want to survive in business, there’s no doubt that you need to be an effective manager. But if you want to grow and become highly successful, you need to be a leader. In fact, it’s been proven time and time again that the more leadership ability you have, the higher your success potential.
What’s the difference between management and leadership?
Management is all about turning goals into results. It’s about planning, taking action and gathering feedback.
On the other hand, leadership is the ability to influence and persuade others.
If you want to build a highly successful business, you must be able to influence those around you. Doing business, after all, is a series of activities based on influence. Think about it.
For example, you need to influence prospective customers and convince them why they should buy from you. You need to influence employees and keep them excited, motivated and productive. You need to influence partners, vendors and professionals and show them why they should help you. You even need to influence or convince banks, lenders and other investors to loan you money.
Clearly, the ability to influence is a vital ingredient for success in business. Leadership is the fuel that feeds success. And influence is the key to leadership.
If you aren’t a natural leader, don’t worry. Leadership, like management, is something that you can easily learn. It’s not difficult. In fact, a lot of it is in knowing how to effectively deal with others.
It’s No Accident Why We Follow Leaders
It’s human nature for people to follow leaders. People naturally tend to follow or align themselves with others who are stronger, more skilled or gifted than themselves. Many times they follow leaders without even realizing it. Even leaders follow other leaders who are stronger, tougher and more capable than themselves. This suggests that most people are willing to be led by others who can impart advanced knowledge, skill, wisdom or support.
As a businessperson you should harness this power to lead people. If you want your business to grow beyond all of your expectations, focus on being a leader. The following characteristics and traits will help you reach your leadership potential.
WINNING WAYS, TRAITS & CHARACTERISTICS
Think about people who you respect and like to do business with. Chances are, they’re successful leaders because they’re able to influence you in a positive way to either follow their cause or to buy from them.
Think about the traits and characteristics that make these people attractive. Ask yourself why you like doing business with them.
Are they honest, trustworthy or reliable? Do they feel strongly about certain things? Are they competent, informed and professional?
Chances are that you’ll answer these questions in a positive way.
The fact is, all leaders, whether they’re in business or elsewhere, share the same basic traits and characteristics. The great news is that anyone from any background can learn and implement theses same characteristics and traits.
If you want to increase your chances to succeed, here’s a basic list of what you need to have (by the way, you’ll notice that most of these traits are ‘common sense’. Regardless… you would be surprised to know how many business owners there are who are quite lacking in many of these areas):
Character
Character is simply the mental and moral qualities of an individual. If you want to get anywhere in business, you had better be of good character. Since people like to do business with people who they can trust, it’s important you develop this trust with good character.
I’m not saying that you need to be a saint like Mother Theresa, but at the very least you should be someone who people can respect and find trustworthy. If customers don’t respect or find you trustworthy, they won’t buy from you, at least not a second time.
The same goes for employees, advisors and vendors: if they have doubts about your character, they won’t work or do business with you.
The way to develop good character is to exercise honesty and integrity at every opportunity. When dealing with your customers, go out of your way to do what’s right for them, even if it sometimes means having to take a small hit financially. When people know they can trust you, they will buy from you over and over again.
Unfortunately, there are some people who go into business who are of questionable character and integrity. We have all met these people at one point or another. Remember how you felt after doing business with them? It’s definitely a feeling you don’t want potential customers to experience.
Keep in mind that your life and your business are who you are. If you’re a person of less than acceptable character, your business (and then you) will come to be recognized as such.
On the other hand, if you’re honorable and trustworthy, people will not only buy from you, they will tell others to buy from you too. Nobody wants to recommend someone who they can’t trust.
When dealing with people always ask, “What’s the right thing to do in this situation?” If you have employees, train them to ask the same question. You will generally always come out ahead if you do what’s right for every party involved.
If you want ultimate success, always conduct your business dealings with honesty and integrity. Customers will appreciate you for it and reward you with their business.
Competence
Successful business leaders are competent individuals. In other words, they have the necessary skills and abilities to accomplish what they set out to do. Not knowing or having competence in your line of work is a recipe for disaster.
On the other hand, the more competence you have the more you will succeed. It absolutely pays to be competent.
Are you competent at what you do?
A true leader believes that there’s always something more to learn. Leaders are the consummate learners. They regularly keep abreast of new developments in their industry or profession. This success habit gives them the information they need to spot trends and take advantage of opportunities before anybody else. It also helps them to avert trouble before it occurs.
Successful business owners also realize that leadership is not developed in one day, but rather over time. This means that leadership is similar to investing; it compounds. The only way to compound your leadership potential is to get better at it every single day. This means never stop learning or improving yourself or your business.
Customers insist that you possess competence. You must be competent not only in fact, but in appearance as well.
Get into the habit of going the extra mile for customers. Experience shows that customers who receive better than expected service will view you as competent. More importantly, they’ll view you as somebody whom they would like to continue do business with.
Of course, competence alone won’t make you a success, but without it, you’ll never be one.
Vision
Leroy Eims, author of Be the Leader You Were Meant to Be said, “A leader is one who sees more than the others see, who sees farther than others see, and who sees before others do.”
One thing is certain about all great leaders: they have vision!
Vision is the ability to think about or plan the future with imagination or wisdom. It’s being able to see the whole picture even before it’s painted. It’s about inspiring and igniting others so they willingly want to help you reach your goals.
Your vision is like a torch; big, bright and capable of lighting the way. It’s about passion and conviction. It’s the very essence of why you’re in business.
Having a vision allows you to focus on building a fire within people, instead of underneath them.
Keep in mind that your vision is not about building homes, baking cookies, repairing cars, or selling goods. It’s not about products or services. It’s about helping your customers reach their dreams and desires or assisting them with their problems and concerns.
To develop your vision, ask yourself what is it that you feel passionately about? Consider why you went into business in the first place. What is it exactly that you do for customers that make them want to come back and buy from you again and again? What’s your ultimate business objective? How do you want others to see you and your business?
If you want to truly succeed, you’ve got to have a vision. And by all means be passionate about it. More than anything else passion is the key to breathing life into your vision. Without passion, your vision will come across as flat or uninteresting.
It’s been said that a leader with great passion and few skills will always be more successful than a leader with great skills and no passion. The Assignment at the end of this chapter will help you develop your vision.
Reliability
Along with character, competence, and vision, a business owner must be reliable if he or she is to succeed. People prefer to deal with businesses that are on solid ground. They prefer to do business with people they can rely and count on.
If customers can’t rely on you, I’m afraid your days in business are numbered.
Think about people you know who aren’t dependable or reliable. What is it about them that made you not depend or rely on them? Was it something they did or said? Maybe it was something they said they were going to do but didn’t. Perhaps this person stood you up for a meeting?
Whatever the reason, their actions caused you to consider them to be undependable and unreliable. The same can be said of you if your actions don’t match what you say.
Most people will realize rather quickly if you’re someone who can’t be relied on. The sad part is that most of the time you’ll never even know when others feel like they can’t count on you. That’s because the things you do to cause people to feel that they can’t depend or rely on you are cumulative. In other words, they build up over time.
While family members and friends may tolerate a person who’s not dependable or reliable, a customer won’t. Before you can say, “What happened?” a customer who doesn’t find you reliable will be shopping elsewhere.
If you want to be influential make sure that you follow through with everything that you say. If the circumstance calls for you to change or cancel plans, then make sure you communicate this to the people depending on you. Otherwise, they may give you a vote of no confidence.
The Ability to Attract the Right People
In order for your influence to yield results, you have to have the right people to influence. Convincing others is actually the easy part. Getting them to follow through with your vision is another story entirely.
A critical step to becoming a great leader is to surround yourself with effective people. Without the right kind of people your plans are doomed from the start.
Succeeding in business is a matter of entering races you know you have a chance of winning. Why mess with your chances by attracting the wrong people?
Attracting the right people involves making unbiased decisions on the people you intend on working with. This not only applies to employees, but to business advisors, vendors and even customers as well.
Keep in mind that people tend to attract others with the same attitude, philosophies, age, financial background, values and life experiences. If you harbor or have any bad attitudes or tendencies, chances are, you’ll attract the same type of people. That’s why it’s so important to always hire people who are right for the job and not who you “like to work with”. Unfortunately, many business owners are guilty of doing just that.
If you want to succeed, it’s essential to surround yourself with the right inner circle. Your inner circle, or the people who surround you, should help you to achieve your objectives. They don’t have to feel as passionately as you do about it, but they at least have to perform their jobs with passion.
Realize too, that if members of your team have different agendas, your effectiveness as a whole unit will be diminished. It’s tough to be successful with these types of players around. Do everything in your power to rid your organization of people who don’t share your agenda.
The Willingness to Build Rapport with Followers
Trying to influence someone with strong-arm tactics or coercion is a short-term view of leadership. It’s also a good way to lose the respect and trust of your followers.
On the other hand, developing a natural and sincere rapport with someone will score plenty of points in the influence department. If people know and like you, your ability to influence will be very strong.
One of the secrets to success as a leader is to connect with people on an emotional level. Keep this old saying in mind: “To lead yourself, use your head; to lead others, use your heart.” Not only is this essential to influence, but it makes sound business sense as well.
As I mentioned earlier, people buy from people they feel good about. You should do everything possible to come across as a businessperson who genuinely cares about his or her customers. Make an effort to build a lasting rapport with them. Train your employees do to the same.
Some of the most successful business owners I know are like chameleons: They change colors, so to speak, just so they can interest or entertain their customers. They tell jokes, stories and exchange ideas and information. They always make sure to call customers by their first name.
They also know that building rapport with customers involves talking about other things besides business. It means taking a genuine interest in their customers as individuals. Successful business leaders are never phony. They know that insincerity is a quick way to give business to their competitors.
The best way to build rapport with people is to focus on them instead of you. Talk about them and not yourself. Ask questions about their lives, their families and their jobs. Don’t talk more than 10 seconds about yourself. If you have to talk about yourself, make sure you talk about how you can help them.
Also, never boast, gloat or be pompous.
There are numerous ways to develop rapport with people. In Chapter 10, I discuss a very powerful tactic called the Individual Approach.
The Discipline of Doing Whatever It Takes
Rarely does a successful business become successful overnight. Rather, it usually takes many months (or years) of doing what it takes to make success happen. Without sacrifice or concession, success cannot happen.
If you’re not willing to do whatever it takes to succeed, then your chances of succeeding are limited. Every successful business owner I know had to go through a few personal and financial sacrifices before they built their gold mine businesses.
Oftentimes, building a highly successful business means taking a few steps backwards before you can go forward three. It means taking no salary or going without a day off if that’s what the situation requires. Sometimes it means looking the other way or swallowing your pride. It involves doing whatever’s necessary in order for your business to accomplish its objectives.
I know that if I had to, I would bend over backwards to make sure my business succeeds. I would work longer hours, weekends and holidays if I had to (and I have!). I made a commitment to myself many years ago to do whatever it takes.
What are you willing to do in order to succeed?
Doing whatever it takes requires you to act, commit, persevere and be diligent in all of your business affairs. If you don’t, you’ll have a tough time building a highly successful business.
Good Judgment
Good judgment is critical to making the right decisions. It also ensures that your followers continue to respect you. Without good judgment, you risk losing influence over them.
For instance, I once knew a business owner who found it extremely difficult to hire good people. The reason he was unsuccessful at finding a good person was because he was making hiring decisions based on emotion rather than good judgment. He hired people who were “fun to work with” instead of people who could do the job. As I mentioned earlier, this is a major pitfall.
It’s important that you always exercise good judgment. If you don’t, people will start to question your leadership. Once that happens, you’ll have a very tough and long time trying to regain your influence.
One way to exercise good judgment is to make decisions that are based on virtues not vices.
For instance, if you decide to embark on a costly advertising campaign, do so because you sincerely want to increase profits, not because you want to satisfy your ego. If you succumb to your ego, chances are you’ll waste money.
So, How Does One Acquire or Hone These Traits?
As I said earlier, many of these traits are ‘common sense’. Some people are just born with them, while others have to consciously work and practice them at every opportunity.
Another good way is to study a successful business owner whom you know. Think about what it is that he or she does that makes them such a great leader. Once you find out….emulate them.
Remember, success leaves clues. Study the clues and you’ll be on your way to a thriving, moneymaking gold mine business of your own!
The preceding was an excerpt from the book:
Gold Mine Tactics: The Business Owner’s Success Manual by Alex Goumakos CPA
Alex Goumakos CPA has over 20 years of experience helping people start, manage and grow highly profitable businesses
Copyright: This blog post is copyrighted material and may not be reproduced in any means whatsoever without written permission from the author. If you would like to link to this post or share the link with others, no permission is required.
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