Cornerstone Principles of Business Leadership - Research Paper Example

Principles of Business Leadership Introduction There is no denying the fact that every manager intends to be a successful business leader. Yet, successful leadership tends to be an assortment of varied tangible and intangible factors. In that context, some of the salient principles of business leadership happen to be: Vision No successful business leader could do without a vision. Successful business leaders tend to have a sense of direction and a dream that their followers within organizations prefer to follow and emulate. It is eventually the vision of a business leader that permeates the institution or organization that one tends to lead and brings about organizational and personal success. Vision is the bedrock on which stands the true body of any leadership. Confidence No business leader could be successful without having the requisite faith and confidence in one’s abilities. Self confidence is the essential faith through which gushes out the spirit of leadership. Trying to be a leader, without being accompanied by a strong confidence in one’s abilities, the abilities of one’s followers and the potential of the organization that one intends to serve is like building a sand castle on the sea shore, which eventually will be washed out by the ravages of time, circumstances and competition. Without self confidence a leader always remains shaky and unsure. Relationships It goes without saying that good leaders do always want to influence their followers and subordinates, the shareholders, suppliers, distributors, customers and varied other external and internal stakeholders in the organization they lead. Yet, it is next to impossible to exert influence without first striking sound and value based relationships. It is only the leaders who care about building and nourishing relationships that end up being more influential as compared to others. Striking fruitful relationships is akin to making propitious investments in the people that a leader comes across during the course of one’s duty. In business perhaps nothing is more important and valuable than the quality of relationships; the leader has with the people. Success in business is to a large extent dependent not only on the quality of relationships that a business leader has with people, but also on how one adds value and trust to those relationships. Communication Simply speaking, communication is all about the sharing and flow of ideas and information from one person to other. In that sense good and effective communication is the key to an efficient business leader’s success. The best business leaders do always happen to be good communicators. Good communication skills help the business leaders get across and accrue support for their vision and ideas. If a business leader has good communication skills, one is extremely admired by one’s team for one’s ability to put across ideas and facts in a lucid and clear manner. Good communication helps business leaders clarify their strategy and goals and leaves no scope for confusion or ambiguity. This makes the things flow in a streamlined and seamless manner across the organization. Ethics Almost all the experienced business personalities and academicians testify to the fact that great business leaders do mostly happen to be ethical leaders. Ethics pertain to the values and morals that define the business approach of a viable business leader. An ethical approach on the part of a business leader does make the external and internal stakeholders trust the purity of one’s intentions and the authenticity of one’s approach. An ethical approach on the part of a business leader automatically imbues the organizational environment with a sense of trust and transparency. Besides, allegiance to ethics allows a successful business leader allows her to decide as to what is good or bad in a particular business situation, thereby allowing her to keep the organization in tandem with the sacrosanct and upheld business values. Strategy A strategic approach towards leadership allows the business leaders to secure a viable and profitable position for their organization in the market place by engaging in activities, plans and ideas that blend with each other and operate in a synchronized and cohesive manner. Sound strategies allow the business leaders to opt for sound choices, decide in the favor of pragmatic trade-offs and dare to go for plans that tend to be different and unconventional. It is commonsensical to assume that most of the organizations operating in a market place mostly prefer to go for similar plans and options. In such a scenario, a strategic approach on the part of a leader could make a huge difference. Accountability Almost every employee within an organization may aspire to be a leader. Yet, there are only a few who are willing to embrace the accountability that goes with leadership. However, leadership can seldom go without accountability. Leadership and accountability happen to be the two sides of the same coin. Accountability means the willingness on the part of a leader to hold oneself responsible for most of the outcomes expected from her, be they good or bad. Accountability means an aversion on the part of a business leader to shun responsibility and to be unwilling to blame others for the organizational failures. In that context, successful business leaders not only accept accountability, but they happen to be proactive and believe in taking initiatives. Empowering Good business leaders believe in empowering their followers and subordinates so that they could learn to own up responsibility and are able to chalk out strategies and take decisions in real time. Successful business leaders are never jealous about their abilities and skills and do believe in empowering others by helping them learn these abilities and skills. Such an approach invariably augments the pool of skilled and responsible employees within an organization, and also enables a business leader to rely on this empowered pool of juniors in the time of crises. Successful business leaders do understand this fact that it is much easier to delegate responsibilities and focus on the core activities, provided the employees in the organization are suitably empowered and thereby competent and skilled. Proactive Effective business leaders never wait for the challenges and issues to strike them unprepared. Rather they visualize and imagine challenging scenarios in advance and chalk out plans and strategies to meet these challenges, as and when they come. Effective business leaders do pursue a proactive approach towards things. Still, it is also a fact that proactive leaders never hesitate from acknowledging that some things do happen to be beyond their scope and control. However, imbued with a sense of confidence, they never doubt their ability to solve problems and their capacity to come out with unconventional and groundbreaking solutions. Embracing Change In the contemporary business environment marked by an influx of new ideas and knowledge and fast altering customer preferences and aspirations, there is nothing permanent except change. Still, the hallmark of successful business leaders is that they are always willing to embrace change. In a practical context, change happens to be a very difficult process and it takes much effort and planning to instill change in a business organization. Hence, effective business leaders not only themselves tend to be the first to embrace change, but are also willing to serve as guides and mentors, enabling their subordinates and colleagues cope up with and embrace change. Business leadership is a multifaceted and multidimensional concept that involves within its scope a plethora of principles and concepts. Still, the above mentioned ten principles of successful business leadership are the requisite bare essentials without which, no business leader can do or thrive. Read More