A study, conducted by Dr Jack Zenger and Dr Joe Folkman, concluded “…poor leaders lost money; good leaders made profit; and extraordinary leaders more than doubled the company’s profits in comparison to the other 90%.” 1
Effective leadership can bring about significant progress for both employees and the company. But the question is how does a leader trace the path to become an exceptional one?
The need for good leadership in today’s dynamic corporate era is an imperative. We all look up to leaders at some point in our lives. I am not stating this from a business viewpoint alone, but in all aspects. But why do we need leaders? What have they got that has made them worth following? What are the unique traits that distinguishes them from the others?
‘Leaders are born’ has been proven a myth several times. In the constant result-oriented workplace we work in, companies are so preoccupied with chasing targets that they forget to invest in grooming and building good leaders. However, it is a proven fact that successful companies excel at building great leaders who help achieve greater results.
So what is leadership? According to the idea of transformational leadership,2 an effective leader is a person who does the following: creates an inspiring vision of the future, motivates and inspires people to engage with that vision.
What makes a good leader? Leaders do not wait for other people to give them permission—they just do it and take responsibility. They make people feel they are at the centre of things, not on the periphery. A good leader makes his or her team feel that they contribute to the success of the organization.
But, it is no easy task to become a leader. The path to leadership requires finding one’s own way—and the direction one takes differs from one person to another. However, there are a few key traits we can focus on:
going beyond micromanaging
Bu hikaye The Smart Manager dergisinin March/April 2017 sayısından alınmıştır.
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Bu hikaye The Smart Manager dergisinin March/April 2017 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
Building A Quality Culture
A strong company culture defined by its values, beliefs, and behaviors, has a profound impact on its products and services. More so in today’s VUCA world, where to stay relevant and maintain a competitive edge, it is critical for organizations to build a culture that focuses on quality. Suresh Lulla, author of Quality Fables, elucidates through significant examples how creating a culture of quality is imperative to driving success and productivity.
Customers For Life
The history of General Motors in India can be traced back to the 1920s, when it became the first automotive company to set up an assembly plant in the country. The relationship since then has not been as fruitful as GM would have hoped. GM’s flagship brand, Chevrolet, was introduced in India to build upon the success of the popular Opel marque. However, success has been fleeting at best—an issue that GM India is determined to rectify. It aims to do so by adopting a two-pronged approach: using customer feedback to influence product development, and delivering a superior sales-to-service experience.
The Digital Shift
… technology will radically disrupt HR in the near future. Indeed, it is already changing the way HR works and the role it plays and opening the door to a new type of “digital HR” function.1 The rise of digital and social media is changing the dynamics of HR and creating new ways of hiring, engaging, and retaining employees.
The Story Of Telling
“The best brands are built on great stories,”* this remark by Ian Rowden best captures the strategy of diligent brand building. Much more than attractive logos or the products themselves, what builds a brand is how successfully a story is woven around it. Brand marketers have to be good storytellers indeed.
Complexity Is Simpler Than You Think
Kay Kendall and Glenn Bodinson, authors of Leading the Malcolm Baldrige Way, shatter myths about excellence models such as Baldrige and EFQM.
Proponents of Isolation Never Become Victors
Multilateralism in the political and economic space has always led to frameworks that favor the mighty. WTO was no exception. With agriculture kept out of its purview, it could never become a truly fair and free trading system. China was the only large emerging economy that exploited relative openness in low-cost manufactured goods to take full advantage of the system. Other emerging economies could at best garner minor gains.
A History Lesson (From Year One) for Trump and the Brexit Crowd: Isolationism Has Never Worked!
Professor Stephane Garelli on growing isolationism.
A Win-Win Game
Business is not a sport where some stakeholder has to lose or fare badly for others to do well. Building an atmosphere of trust and transparency between all stakeholders will help companies retain them even during adverse times.
A Sustainable Model
With a total market value of $4.3 trillion and an employment base of at least 1.3 million direct employees and millions of others indirectly employed, platforms have become an important economic force.*Companies today are constantly looking for ways to build platforms—Infosys Ltd announced its plans of monetizing its platforms to make them a $2 billion business by March 2021. But are all platform businesses successful?
Custom Made
…three in four consumers said they receive too many emails from brands, and one-fifth said they could not handle the current volume…69 per cent have ‘unfollowed’ brands on social media, closed their accounts or cancelled subscriptions.*In these times, when the market is flooded with products and services, the most efficent way to engage customers is to offer them customized content. To achieve this, brands need to focus on observing the nuances of individual preferences.
