Business bootcamp: the art of building sales, channels & customers III

CEO: ¿a servant leader?

Whilst there are those people who have a natural talent to inspire and motivate others to achieve their goals, the best leaders can be made as well as born. There are two primary leadership roles that CEOs need to focus on to build and maintain a thriving and successful organization.
 

The first job is to establish Vision and Direction. Leadership is about going somewhere. In effective organizations, everyone has a compelling vision and a clear sense of where the enterprise is going and this vision has to come from the top. This kind of visionary leadership incorporates four key elements:
 

• Purpose – be totally clear about what business you are in

• Vision – what is your picture of the future

• Values – what will guide the journey into the future

• Goals – what should your people focus on
   

The second aspect of leadership fundamental to cultivating organizational success is Implementation. This involves turning the traditional hierarchical pyramid on its head and empowering people throughout your organization, allowing them to act as if they owned the vision and direction. A CEO needs to move to the bottom of the pyramid and act as cheerleaders, supporting and encouraging everyone to live according to the vision and accomplish the goals.

This radical leadership strategy may be called “Servant Leadership.”
 

Too many leaders embrace the first aspect of their leadership responsibilities and forget the second. Instead of becoming successful “Servant Leaders”, they become the opposite, “self-serving leaders”, ultimately setting themselves and their organizations up for failure.

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