Six Short Lessons On Leadership

If you’re a business owner or entrepreneur or a working professional, you know how challenging it can be to find the path towards leadership that works for you. If you find yourself wondering how to become a leader in your domain, follow these six short lessons on leadership.

1. Focus on solutions, not problems

If you always focus on the problem, people will always be coming to you, as a Leader, with their problems. All too often, when facing a problem, the first thing we tend to do is focus on the negative situation. We continue to repeat our patterns, doing the same things that do not work, until we dwell in a feeling of negativity. Many people let their minds wander toward the negative, which then prompts them to focus on more problems instead of searching for ways to resolve the situation and grow from it. You must begin to start focusing on ways to actually resolve the situation by focusing on solutions. Do not just react, take the time to fully analyze the problem and then make a list of possible solutions.

For more on this topic, I recommend the book, “The Solutions Focus” by Mark McKergow

2. Collaborate with your team

Work together with your team. My team and I would sometimes struggle to agree on certain things when we worked together on something, but it’s part of the fun of collaboration. Collaboration thrives when everyone is humble enough to accept what others bring. You have your own strengths as an individual and so does everyone else.

Apply the organizational rules like Mandela, not Atilla! Fascism is not a good leadership style!

3. Be a culture champion.

Walk the talk. Leadership is about using your experience and wisdom to move others in a positive direction. It’s about empowering others by serving as an example. You have to know the culture of your own organization or networking chapter.

What you do, thunders above your head so loudly, I cannot hear the words you speak. Live the core values and walk the talk.

4. Care about the success of others–REALLY care!

Great leaders demonstrate integrity, consistency, compassion, and flexibility. They listen, create safety, focus on the goal and remain flexible in how to achieve the goal. They are unafraid of vulnerability, apologize when they make mistakes, and build deep, lasting relationships.

People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

Example: A manager noticed one of her employees was consistently late to work. Instead of reprimanding them immediately, she scheduled a private meeting to understand the root cause. She discovered the employee was dealing with personal issues affecting their punctuality. By showing empathy and offering flexible working hours, she helped the employee manage their situation better, which improved their performance and loyalty to the company.

5. Contextual intelligence.

Good leaders are good facilitators. They understand the context of the situation. A leader understands the limits of their knowledge and adapts that knowledge to an environment different from the one in which it was developed.

Do not lead with a cookie-cutter approach. You can’t treat all situations or people exactly the same.

6. Adaptive capacity.

It is important for leaders to develop the contextual intelligence to deal with challenges. This is the ability to adapt to the current situation. We can never conceive of all the potential problems in any given situation. This means that one’s ability to adapt is truly an important key to being a great leader. Do your best to understand the landscape and adapt.

However, you cannot plan for every unexpected situation. “What cannot go wrong will go wrong.”

Finally, leadership is about accomplishing more than people thought possible. In your business or in your professional life, what are your wildest dreams? What’s your ultimate goal? Never lose that idea and constantly be working towards it.

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Warm regards,

Tejas Lakhani, chartered accountant and a finance professional.