[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]You’re not a good leader just because you …

• Are the owner
• Occupy a position at the top of the ladder
• Are smarter
• Work harder
• Have more money
• Know how to tell people what to do
• Know more about the work than anyone else

Some or all of these things may be true about you but none of them makes you a good leader.

And if you’re not a good leader, no one will truly follow you. As a business owner, your survival depends on getting people who go the extra mile for you. Leadership—it’s about genuinely caring about, respecting, connecting with, inspiring, and helping others to grow, develop, and be all they can be.

I ran across a set of leadership skills that are particularly good for business owners.  Click here to read the article or, if you don’t want to read the whole article, I’ve reprinted the 6 skills below. The article is about the long-time Dean of Students at IU’s Maurer School of Law, a remarkable man who developed these leadership skills, now called The Fromm Six. Here they are:

Self-Awareness – Having a highly developed sense of self. Being self‐aware means knowing your values, goals, likes, dislikes, needs, drives, strengths and weaknesses, and their effect on your behavior.  Possessing this competence means knowing accurately which emotions you are feeling and how to manage them toward effective performance and a healthy balance in your life. If self‐aware, you also will have a sense of perspective about yourself, seeking and learning from feedback and constructive criticism from others.

Active Listening – The ability to fully comprehend information presented by others through careful monitoring of words spoken, voice inflections, para‐linguistic statements, and non‐verbal cues. Although that seems obvious , the number of lawyers and law students who are poor listeners suggests the need for better development of this skill.  It requires intense concentration and discipline. Smart technology devices have developed a very quick mode of “listening” to others. Preoccupation with those devices makes it very challenging to give proper weight and attention to face‐to‐face interactions. Exhibiting weak listening skills with your colleagues/classmates/clients might also mean that they will not get to the point of telling you what they really want to say.  Thus, you miss the whole import of what the message was to be.

Questioning – The art and skill of knowing when and how to ask for information. Questions can be of various types, each type having different goals. Inquiries can be broad or narrow, non‐leading to leading. They can follow a direct funnel or an inverted funnel approach.   A questioner can probe to follow up primary questions and to remedy inadequate responses.  Probes can range from encouraging more discussion, to asking for elaboration on a point, to even being silent. Developing this skill also requires controlling one’s own need to talk and control the conversation.

Empathy– Sensing and perceiving what others are feeling, being able to see their perspective, and cultivating a rapport and connection. To do the latter effectively, you must communicate that understanding back to the other person by articulating accurately their feelings. They then will know that you have listened accurately, that you understand, and that you care. Basic trust and respect can then ensue.

Communicating/Presenting –The ability to assertively present compelling arguments respectfully and sell one’s ideas to others.  It also means knowing how to speak clearly and with a style that promotes accurate and complete listening.  As a professional, communicating means persuading and influencing effectively in a situation without damaging the potential relationship.  Being able to express strong feelings and emotions appropriately in a manner that does not derail the communication is also important.

Resilience –The ability to deal with difficult situations calmly and cope effectively with stress; to be capable of bouncing back from or adjusting to challenges and change; to be able to learn from your failures, rejections, feedback and criticism, as well as disappointments beyond your control. Being resilient and stress hardy also implies an optimistic and positive outlook, one that enables you to absorb the impact of the event, recover within a reasonable amount of time, and to incorporate relevant lessons from the event.

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7 Habits of Highly Successful Business Owners:
Why do some business owners struggle while others get rich?

How is it that some business owners struggle just to make ends meet while others create a multi-million dollar business in just a few years? A recent survey said 87% of business owners STRUGGLE…struggle to gain customers, to keep strong-performing team members, to spend time doing the things they ENJOY.

Providing business coaching to Indiana business owners has taught us that, there are simple yet powerful strategies that these successful business owners employ. We’ve boiled these down and compiled the results into an eBook called “The 7 Habits of Successful Business Owners.” It gives you the SECRETS that will transform your business into that profit-making machine you always knew it could be.[/vc_column_text][ultimate_modal icon_type=”none” modal_contain=”ult-html” modal_on=”ult-button” onload_delay=”2″ btn_size=”block” btn_bg_color=”#6a9a5d” btn_txt_color=”#ffffff” modal_on_align=”center” btn_text=”Download the 7 Habits of Highly Successful Business Owners” txt_color=”#f60f60″ modal_size=”small” modal_style=”overlay-cornerbottomleft” overlay_bg_color=”#333333″ overlay_bg_opacity=”80″ header_text_color=”#333333″ modal_border_width=”2″ modal_border_color=”#333333″ modal_border_radius=”0″]

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