Brain Tracy’s book, How the Best Leaders Lead, provides advice on how to become a successful leader in business.His book is full of advice on various business success skills. Through out the book and in two chapters he allows readers to answer questions about their leadership goals to better help them develop into successful business leaders. The book also gives advice on business lessons, management, how to hire and keep the most productive people, how to build strong teams, problem solving, decision making, communication, and how to simplify your life as a leader. He also shares the seven key qualities of leaders which I will outline below.
1. Vision
- Know what you are trying to accomplish
- Know your values and your ideal future
- Be clear so others you are working with understand the goals of their task
2. Courage
- “The fact is that the future belongs to the risk-takers, not the security-seekers. The future belongs to leaders who are willing to move out of their comfort zones and take the necessary risks that are required for the enterprise to survive and thrive in any economic situation” (Loc 332)
- Move toward growth or else you remain stagnant and eventually fail
- Continuously think of actions you can take to help your company succeed
- Persevere
- “The key to dealing with a crisis effectively is to decide, in advance, that no matter what happens, you will remain calm, cool and relaxed” (Loc 368)
Courtesy of http://bit.ly/GQLEpB
3. Integrity
- Be truthful
- “The natural extension of personal integrity is quality work” (Loc 384)
- Have high ethical standards
- Accept responsibility
4. Humility
- “…willing to admit you could be wrong, that you recognize you may not have all the answers. And it means that you give credit where credit is due” (Loc 401)
- Acknowledge you are continuously learning
- Be open to peoples’ thoughts and ideas
5. Foresight
- Able to anticipate what may occur in the future so plans for the company can be made accordingly
- Scenario planning can help leaders prepare
Courtesy of http://bit.ly/H23pYx
6. Focus
- Identify the strengths of individuals so the company can most effectively utilize their strengths
- A leader must focus on how to achieve goals
7. Cooperation
- “…the ability to get people to work for you because they want to” (Loc 495)
- Identify the result-achieving people and work with them on a daily basis so they feel appreciated
I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in developing his or her self as a successful business leader.
Tracy, Brian. How the Best Leaders Lead: Proven Secrets to Getting the Most of Yourself and Others. New York: AMACOM, 2010. Kindle Device.
I really enjoyed your presentation, Kelsea. You did a great job structuring the presentation so it was very ordered and easy to understand where you were going at each slide!
I think the hardest point for leaders to follow is 4. Humility, especially, “…willing to admit you could be wrong, that you recognize you may not have all the answers. And it means that you give credit where credit is due” (Loc 401).
For me the hardest is admitting that I don’t know everything and I’m still learning and need to continue learning. After all this schooling I just want to be done! I just want to “know everything” and be set for life! But, of course, that’s a silly notion. 😉 It’s actually good to challenge yourself to learn something new every day, regardless of how old you are or how much you’ve accomplished.
Which one do you think is the hardest for most leaders to follow? Which one is the hardest for you?
Kelsea,
Thank you for the great leadership lessons!
I don’t know that I have ever heard it so plainly stated (because it seems like such a DUH! concept) but vision is actually an incredibly important leadership tool. Every “tribe” (excuse my shameless book promotion) must have a leader with a vision or they will never progress anywhere. Vision is what moves us forward. It is the realization that we are working toward achieving a common goal. And more importantly it is the ability to quantify and define those goals.
Of course, without courage you are not able to act. So I think I like those two points best – You need a vision to take you somewhere and courage to get there…
Jessica