We are 2 decades already in 21st Century. Having the destiny to live in so-called Information Society the challenges the modern leaders in business (CEOs, Presidents, Managing Directors, Board of Directors members, Entrepreneurs and Business Owners) are facing and more than demanding.
The environment is very dynamic, the behavior of the consumers is more and more unpredictable, the purchases are more transactional than recurring, the technologies and AI already are present in our everyday life whilst the challenges in front of the business leaders are multiplying.
Stakeholders are interested in increasing the value of their investments. The workers are demanding for the support of their direct managers – demanding resources, answers for their requests, financial investments or just simple example how to cope with their job – this all concentrates at the end at the person on the top of the command chain. His/Her family and friends are demanding his human nature and love, which often is something the people around the executive don’t seem to even consider as “should have” as part of his/her personality.

All that leads to the increased stress, feeling of being alone or not understood, the incapability to cope with the all tasks that are flooding the executive on top. Which impacts the capability to make the strategic decisions he has to make in order to constantly increase and protect the value of the company.

What is the solution to the challenge above? What structure must be in place, in order to support the executive at his/her place and to constantly be delivering top results no matter the challenges around?

 

1. Strategic thinking

This is where it all starts from, bearing in mind that every decision the executive takes impacts the business processes – both strategic and operational, the organizational structure, the roles to support these processes, the financial planning and cash flow (sales, profits/loss) and the logistics of the firm. This is often something the General Managers forget whilst trying to compensate the work their colleagues and workers did not manage to complete in time.

The Firefighting mode is the most common problem in any business, driving the CEO’s away from their main job description to rolling up the sleeves and turning them into the most expensive paid employees of the organization. This all garnished with higher stress, missed deadlines and accumulated sense of “being alone” and “not understood” from the others in their teams or even worse sometimes – from their families and life partners.

As CEOs and business owners we must always be focusing on the BIG picture, looking at the forest as a whole but not on each of the separate trees. Thinking about our EBITDA and Mx (multipliers) and the multiple factors that we have to plan for, that are behind each part (both EBITDA and Mx) of the equation is how we differentiate and increase our Enterprise Value (EV) while working to grow our profits and competitive advantages in our business segment.

This however may not materialize at all in our organization if the top management do not possess the proper leadership skills.

 

2. Leadership

The Leadership Skills and qualities are those that are actually enabling the top executive to translate the BIG picture and his/her vision for the company to the employees on their own language. This is the single skill that empowers the people in any organization to adopt and engage, to consider this plan as their own and build up the desire to get there, to achieve those results. The Strategic Thinking itself then is a
function of the Leadership skills of the top executive or the business owner to navigate his/her team in thru the turbulent waters and to take them to safe harbor.

Hence the formula: EV= Fx(Leadership)

We have number of stories for companies whose CEOs have asked their people in front of crisis whether to cut jobs or close the business and the people were returning with answers “we will cut all our wages down in order to go thru this, save the business and survive together as a team”.

This is the kind of the influence a great leader has – engaging the people in their mission to change the world and survive together all the challenges as a whole, as a shared vision and shared responsibility, shared caring and being the example for each other.

This may not happen however if the leader has not worked hard on himself to possess the proper ethical system, his personal mastery.

 

3. Personal Mastery and Mindfulness

What is my work? What is my mastery? What is my heritage? What example do I set for the world? What is the difference for this world that I have lived?

These are just few of the essential questions I believe every thought executive and entrepreneur has to stop and to think about on regular basis while trying to achieve his/her next milestone. Especially this is even more valid for the entrepreneurs which as a category in general are eager to change the world in their specific way, where they see particular problem /most of the times first experienced by themselves/.

In order to set an example, in order to win the hearts and minds of the people and to be followed, every leader has to first win the internal battle with his own fears, cynicism, judgmental thinking (the 3 brains/systems that are working in our head). This is fundamental in order to develop clear and calm  mind, to be fully present at the moment and to observe the things and the situations as they are. Not to allow any personal attachments, weaknesses or flaws to interfere with his/her understanding of the situation purely based on facts and data, but no emotions to blur his/her perceptions for the present.

Being mindful is essentially the very basics of being good leader hence being able to achieve the strategic objectives of the company with the full support and engagement from your team.

 

Putting it all together: Integrate your development efforts in the 3 areas

It is essential for every executive to be mindful about his hard business skills and Strategic Thinking, Leadership and Personal Mastery. While business goals, money and growth must be kept right on target, it must be always remembered that without proper Leadership those statements would not be materialized by the people in the organization. Of course everything starts with the self-realization that “If I don’t develop and grow myself, my business will be delivering only within the limitations of my own realizations.” Thats why personal mastery is the very foundation, the center of the successful leader, who drives the business forwards to the next level. Where he is not just part of the game, but is dominating it.