Leadership is key

Editor’s note: Michelle Stockman is an independent consultant with her company, Fort Smith-based Msaada Group. Stockman earned a bachelor’s degree from Loyola University-Chicago in communications and fine arts, and earned a master’s in entrepreneurship from Western Carolina University. Her thoughts on business success appear each week on The City Wire.

I love to watch the reality shows where the restaurant, salon or bar guru swoops in to save a small business on the brink of disaster. Those programs offer a wealth of information about running any business (let alone a service business), and the stars on these shows uncover one universal problem with many of the struggling businesses – leadership. All too often, when you find a struggling business, you’ll also find a business owner who has some underlying problem.

Now, not all businesses enduring hard times are at fault of leadership dysfunction as laundry lists of other problems may be occurring. Search fare enough into a business’ history and you’ll find the problem quickly (so long as you thoroughly look at the business). However, leadership is the nucleus of any business and is discussed repeatedly here as well as numerous business resources.

Why is business leadership so important? While the skills of building a spreadsheet, tracking inventory, monitoring supply channels, marketing and so forth can be taught with some tangible measurable metrics. Teaching leadership skills is much more ambiguous. There are many human variables involved with having leadership skills. Additionally, there is the question of can leadership skills be taught or are they innate within the person?

Jim Collins investigates company leadership in the book “Good to Great.” Between 1996 and 2001, Collins studied the top 10 Good to Great performing companies to find the number one common denominator was the organization’s leaders. If you have any doubt, look at the list of 10 Good to Great organizations today. You’ll find those whose CEO’s have changed are no longer qualifiers for the list (one has even gone out of business).

Through his study and his own business experiences, Collins discovered a hierarchy of leadership inside larger corporations. In that hierarchy, Collins found what he calls Level 5 Executives. Collins notes, “Level 5 leaders channel their ego needs away from themselves and into the larger goal of building a great company. It’s not that Level 5 leaders have no ego or self-interest. Indeed, they are incredibly ambitious – but their ambition is first and foremost for the institution, not themselves.”

Collins further explains “Level 5 leaders build enduring greatness through a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will.”

What exactly is business leadership? Leadership is inspiring, enlisting and guiding others to achieve a goal or task. In business, entrepreneurs need to lead their companies through all the surprises that await the journey. They need to be leaders setting the tone and example within the work place for employees. They need to lead customers to buying from them and they are leaders to their communities. Entrepreneurs are also leaders to other entrepreneurs. Owning and running your own business is not about you, and you better learn that lesson sooner rather than later.

The kiss of death to an entrepreneur is making excuses for why things are the way they are currently. This hides the leader from his or her responsibility while breeding more troubles ahead by not setting the tone an example within the organization. True entrepreneurial leaders will address problems, opportunities, staff, customers and others on their level with the information they need to achieve the goal set before the company.

Business leaders make mistakes (no one is immune to that reality). However, good leadership will recognize a mistake, learn from it, share it and correct it. A single class, television show or webinar won’t give all the skills needed to be a great leader. All the information on leadership is helpful and can help someone with the drive for leadership learn excellent skills; however the person in the leadership role has got to have the desire, patience and determination to move others with them on the journey.

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Stockman can be reached at [email protected]