Leadership skills Tom Peters recommends as most critical? While we may debate the most important skill of the best leader, certainly one essential skill is curiosity.
That is, demonstrating curiosity and inspiring and cultivating the natural curiosity in your staff. Ineffective business leaders are the ones who have lost their passion and interest in their subject or even for their job.
So Tom would say business leadership is a trait many are quick to claim but few deserve.
You can’t fake curiosity and passion. The best leaders are the ones who show their love to continuously learn more about their subject.
They are not afraid to show mistakes or admit that they don’t know it all. They continually seek to experiment with new ideas.
The best leaders guide, coach, inspire and feed that natural flame of curiosity and exploration that lives within every employee.
The courage to lead, then, is the courage to expose yourself as you demonstrate your interest and passion for business subjects. This kind of love is both infectious and memorable.
The openness to show your natural curiosity in front of others requires one to be vulnerable.
Passionate curiosity demonstrates many things to others, including that we don’t know all the answers or even that we are uncertain about various things.
Be curious and never fear your vulnerability.
Here are many more critical skills Tom considered for a good business leader:
Definition of a good leader … integrity always
Employees are a direct reflection of the values of its leaders. If we’re playing from needing to be right instead of doing what’s right, then we limit the full potential of a business and lose quality talent.
If you focus on becoming authentic in all your interactions, that will rub off on your business and your culture.
Leadership skills Tom Peters recommends: listens first and acts second
Someone who jumps to conclusions without first seeking to understand has made a fatal error—for themselves and their team.
To lead people actually, you have to take the time to listen and see things from their perspective. You have to put yourself in their shoes and fully understand the situation.
The best leader maintains patience
Patience is real courage that tests your commitment to a cause. The path to great things is always tough, but the best leader understands when to abandon the cause and when to stay the course.
If your vision is bold enough, there will be hundreds of reasons why it ‘can’t be done’ and plenty of doubters.
A lot of things have to come together—external markets, competition, financing, consumer demand and always a little luck—to pull off something big.
The best leader avoids decisions in the heat of the moment
You know those bosses that get all riled up and then start rapid-firing people? That’s not a leader. That’s a trigger-happy manager on a power trip—and there’s a difference.
A leader waits until the heat of the moment has passed so that he or she can give substantial thought to the situation before coming to a conclusion.
Leadership skills Tom Peters recommends: stays confident
A leader instills confidence and ‘followership’ by having a clear vision, showing empathy and being an energetic coach.
It helps to combine kindness and generosity with swagger and assertiveness, definitely tough but achievable. The two work well together in gaining respect.
The best leader admits what they don’t know
It’s dangerous when someone claims to “know everything.”
The best leader is ok with not having all the answers, and knowing that they will find the people who do.
They don’t see it as a weakness—because it’s not. It’s merely part of the process.
Leadership skills Tom Peters recommends: demonstrate insightfulness
It takes great insight to be able to separate that which is imperative from all the incoming fire. It’s like wisdom—it can be improved with time if you’re paying attention.
It’s inherent in the best leader’s character.
Stay optimistic and positive
To achieve greatness, you must create a culture of optimism. There will be many ups and downs, but the prevalence of positivity will keep the business going.
You have to believe in making the impossible possible.
Mistakes New Managers Make: Rookie Managers Make All Too Often
The best leader never tries to be the smartest person
If someone hires people or surrounds themselves with people less qualified than themselves only to remain in a position of power, then they feel threatened.
You never want to be the smartest person in the room—and if you are, you’re in the wrong place.
The best leader knows this and seeks to surround themselves with masters of their crafts. The leader’s job, then, is to “play the orchestra.”
Leadership skills Tom Peters recommends: being open-minded
One of the biggest myths is that good business leaders are great visionaries with dogged determination to stick to their goals no matter what. It’s nonsense.
The truth is, leaders need to keep an open mind while being flexible and adjust when necessary.
Constructive, not negative, feedback
There is a difference between “constructive criticism” and ugly negativity. People who spew negativity aren’t doing anything to help anyone.
The best leader looks for ways they can help, not ways they can tear others down in the process.
Leadership skills Tom Peters recommends: wear your passion
You must love what you do. To be truly successful at something, you must obsess over it and let it consume you.
No matter how successful your business might become, you are never satisfied and always push to do something bigger, better and greater.
Lead by example not because you feel like it’s what you should do, but because it is your way of life.
Does what has to be done
Anyone who says, “That’s not my job,” isn’t leading by example.
Yes, people need to stay their lane and be responsible for their work, but when there’s a fire, and it’s all hands on deck, a leader doesn’t step back and say, “All right everyone, go figure it out.”
They get right to work with them.
The best leader always empowers people
Many of my leadership philosophies were learned as an employee, watching leaders.
Most successful team efforts didn’t always have the most talent but did have individuals with the right combination of skills, strengths and a basic trust in each other.
It gets better …
To build an ‘overachieving’ team, you need to delegate responsibility and authority.
Giving away responsibilities isn’t always easy. It can be harder to do than completing the task yourself. With the right project selection and support, delegating can pay off in huge dividends.
Leadership skills Tom Peters recommends: cultivate a positive culture
Being results-driven is great, but a culture that produces results has to be healthy in some way, shape, or form. And creating that culture takes hard work.
Here is the deal:
The best leader knows that they are not the center of attention, and what’s more important is creating an environment where others feel empowered to succeed, bring ideas to the table, and think for themselves.
The best leader always finds a way
Anyone that says, “It’s impossible. We can’t,” isn’t fit to lead. A real leader knows that there is always a way. It might not be the way anyone had originally planned for, but it’s a way nonetheless.
Now …
The best leader finds the roads less traveled, and do whatever needs to be done to get the collective over the obstacle ahead.
Keeps focus
Tom believes good leadership is making important but unpopular decisions. That’s certainly a partial truth, but I think it underscores the importance of interest.
To be the best leader, you cannot major in minor things, and you must be less distracted than your competition.
What is the bottom line?
The moral of this story is company culture has a great influence on leadership development. If these different thoughts are possessed by your current leadership team or your emerging leaders, you will be in a good position for the road ahead.
Which of these leadership thoughts stand out to you? Do you have any other thoughts of effective leaders worthy of mention? Leave a comment and share your insights with others…
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More leadership material from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
Build an Effective Team by Being a Talent Hound
Success Enablers of Highly Creative Leaders
Secrets to Becoming a Remarkably Mindful Leader
Leadership Characteristics That Improve Influence |
Mike Schoultz is a digital marketing and customer service expert. With 48 years of business experience, he consults on and writes about topics to help improve the performance of small business. Find him on G+, Facebook, Twitter, Digital Spark Marketing, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.