The ‘Secret’ to Lasting Success as a Leader
In this video, I give some tips on business leadership and entrepreneurship. I am being interviewed in Tbilisi, Georgia by Nik Shurgaia – a close friend and an experienced bank CEO.
Nik has gained a large following in Georgia by posting videos of his views on leadership and entrepreneurship and giving reviews of his favourite business books. In this interview, he refers to two of my books: Think like an Entrepreneur and Mindful Business Leadership.
Although the books cover different aspects of the business life cycle (start-up and established) their core message is essentially the same – lasting success is determined by the leader’s will to become (and remain) ‘good enough’ at the main functions of their business.
Gaining the Trust of Specialist Function Heads
For example, to start a business, a leader needs to be sufficiently capable at sales and finance. To run a larger enterprise also needs these competencies to gain the trust and respect of specialist function heads (e.g. the CFO and CMO). Without their trust, these specialists may start making decisions without consultation and create major problems.
During my time of running a large business, I would watch my CFO look at me, grimace slightly, and then tell me what was on his mind. My sense was he didn’t really want any interference, but knew it was better to have me ‘on board’. Had I not been ‘good enough’ at finance, he may have excluded me and not gained my wider strategic knowledge of the business
There is no I in Teamwork
In one of my favourite business books, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People – author Stephen Covey explains the principle of ‘synergize’ as his habit no 7. When a team of people have sufficient trust, so their complementary strengths can be combined – they can achieve far more than they could as individuals.
Sadly, organisational life is often motivated by the politics of fear and survival, which diminishes productivity. When a leader shows that they are ‘good enough’ they also show they value each of their team and with a ‘fair wind’ can produce astonishing results.
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