CEOs and leaders are born, not made? That said, it’s possible to learn the characteristics needed to be a successful business leader. Once you know these characteristics, it’s just a matter of incorporating them into your daily life until your leadership skills are as good as those of a natural-born leader. You’re about to find out what these characteristics are!
Sheldon Inwentash is a successful business leader and the Chief Executive Officer at a Toronto-based capital firm. Thus, feel free to learn from him.
- You Know Yourself
As it turns out, you must know what your strengths and weaknesses are if you want to be a successful business leader. Leaders are constantly evolving and are never perfect. Your chances of business success improve if you’re constantly trying to improve both your strengths and weaknesses. You also have to be willing to turn your weaknesses into strengths. Sheldon Inwentash always knew his strengths and weaknesses, which was the main reason behind his success.
- You Can Make Decisions In A Split-Second
Business moves fast. Business leaders have missed plum opportunities by batting an eyelid. Therefore, you need to make vital decisions quickly to succeed as a business leader. Oh, and you’ll also need to have a lot of knowledge and strong analytical and problem-solving skills. It’s the only way you’ll be able to make those split-second decisions that will make your organization even more successful in both the short and long run.
- Practice What Martin Luther King Taught
Both legendary leaders spent their lifetimes teaching others about the importance of equality. Equality forms the basis of modern Western society. Following that logic, successful leaders learn to view everyone as being equal. He also treats people equally.
It entails respecting people, not just ethnicity, race, religion, or culture. It also involves respecting who they are as people. Good leaders also value and respect people’s different thought processes and patterns.
- Be Like A Cheerleader
If you’ve ever been to a high school or college game, you know about cheerleaders. They’re those attractive young women who are just like a little portion of happy energy. They’re always enthusiastic, and they always have a smile on their faces. Well, there’s a reason for this. It turns out that enthusiasm is contagious. When cheerleaders are enthusiastic and happy, their teams are also enthusiastic and happy.
Therefore, the chances of them winning the game increase. Well, you can extend this logic to business leaders. When business leaders are happy and enthusiastic, their teams will be happy and enthusiastic. Business productivity, revenue streams, and profit margins subsequently soar.
You’ll Never Make It As A Leader If…
No, you’ll never make it as a leader if you don’t have all of the qualities mentioned above. There’s a reason why leaders are paid a lot of money. They have soft traits that are hard to develop because they have to be developed through character and experience. There is no way to teach the qualities or traits needed to be good at business leadership in a book. Therefore, you’ll need to improve constantly, and you’ll also be willing never to stop learning if you want to be a successful business leader.