A couple of months ago I shared a high-level overview of our Building a Visionary Business™ method. This month, I’m continuing the overview with a focus on the first component of the framework – Personal Leadership.
Whether you’re a business owner or you work for a small business, this is for you. Because people are at the core of any business. When you think about it, a business is usually a group of people who help another group of people and get paid for this.
So, let’s dive into the personal leadership component.
We Are All Leaders
This is one of the ideas I remember from my training with iPEC. We are all leaders. At the least, we all lead ourselves every day in every situation and with every decision we make (or don’t make for that matter).
How you choose to show up matters. And based on iPEC’s Energy Leadership™ framework, you always have at least 7 choices. In any given situation.
And speaking of situations, there’s that idea that how you do one thing is how you do everything. In other words, if your car is filled with trash, maybe your house is too. And maybe your work is sloppy and lacks attention to details.
So, as a business owner, whether you are just starting, still a solopreneur, or already running a team and a multi-million dollar company, the first thing you want to do is look in the mirror and ask a very important question.
Are You a Visionary Leader?
While we are all leaders and as a business owner you also hold a leadership role, not all of us are what we call visionary leaders.
Now, chances are that when you read the phrase “visionary leader”, your first thoughts are about the innovators and titans of industry out there. Maybe Steve Jobs comes to mind. Or Elon Musk. Or Jeff Bezos. And, maybe, you’re thinking that it’s impossible for you to be a visionary leader because you “don’t have it.”
Well, I’m here to tell you that this voice is lying to you. You can be a visionary leader. Because at the core a visionary leader is someone who has a clear direction for the future and makes decisions aligned with that direction.
I wrote about it in this article where you can also get more familiar with the 7 choices we always have.
For now, and as a first step, I want you to pause for a second and ask yourself: “Am I a visionary leader? Do I have a clear sense of the direction of my business (and life) and do I make decisions aligned with it, even when outcomes are not guaranteed? “
Be open and honest with yourself. Because you can’t build a visionary business if you don’t elevate yourself first.
And if you want to really understand where you currently are and how often you tap into the visionary within, the ELI Assessment is the tool for you. Check it out here.
The Path to Becoming a Visionary Leader
Chances are that right now you don’t see yourself as a visionary leader and that’s perfectly normal. Many of us operate from a place of fear and we battle the daily fires instead of focusing on strategy and designing the future of our businesses.
And what can you do when a client suddenly emails you because their website just crashed? Or when your assistant who has been with you for over five years tells you she’s quitting? Of course you need to deal with these issues now.
Yet, if you want to grow your business, you need to grow first. As a leader and a business owner.
And the most important thing to focus on is your mindset. Because even if you have the skills and knowledge to accomplish things, your mindset is the one that determines the extend of your success.
So, let’s quickly check the path you can take to elevate your view to the levels of visionary.
Start With Awareness
First and foremost, start with awareness. I already challenged you to pause and ask yourself a question. And while this can be very valuable, awareness is a process and a habit you want to cultivate. Especially, self-awareness.
There are so many things on your plate as a business owner and so many moving parts. If you are still a solopreneur, you wear all the hats – marketer, sales rep, support specialist, developer, CEO, cleaning person, you name it. And even if you already have a team, you still carry most of the weight as the owner and leader of the team.
So, being aware of how you show up in different situations is so important. It gives you the starting point to see what and how you can improve.
How do you react when employees come to you with problems?
What do you experience when you are about to go on a sales call?
Which projects or tasks do you keep on postponing?
All of these give you indications of whether you are showing up as a visionary leader and what you can start working on to grow into the person who can and will make your business even more successful.
Continue With Acceptance
Once you are aware of how you show up, it’s time to accept it.
Yes, you read it correctly. Accept the situation. Accept yourself.
This does not mean being apathetic. It just means that you release any judgment and negativity surrounding the past and how things are.
There’s absolutely no point in beating a dead horse. The past is the past. Once you gain the awareness, acceptance is key. Because it releases the negative energy and allows you to focus everything you’ve got on the path forward.
Yes, you might not even be close to being a visionary leader right now. Maybe you tend to have a lot of doubt and do the bare minimum to keep the business running.
That’s ok. Because with the awareness you have now and by accepting things the way they are, you ready and energized for the next step.
Make Conscious Choices
And the next step is all about making conscious choices.
You know where things stand and what type of leader you currently are. You also accepted the situation.
So, the question is: “What’s next?”
How do you get yourself and your business to the next level?
What do you need to do? Who do you need on your team?
With awareness and acceptance, you are ready to choose the path forward.
Start Trusting The Process
Then, you trust the process.
You trust that by working on yourself and elevating yourself and your team your business will be elevated too.
That by becoming a visionary leader you will create a visionary business.
That life and the universe knows the way.
Be Your Authentic Self
And finally, you do this by being your true self.
This is where your values come into play and matter. And the key word here is YOUR.
We often hold values that are not always ours. Or values that we keep out of fear rather than possibility.
So, spend some time getting to really know yourself.
What do you stand for? What are your 3 to 5 values or guiding principles?
This is what allows you to really step into being a visionary leader and design a future you are ready to fight for.
Personal Leadership Beyond Mindset
So far, we’ve talked a lot about mindset. Because it really is the most important part of growth and personal leadership.
However, as a business owner, you also need to sharpen your skills and knowledge.
Yes, at some point you want to move away from “How do I do this?” to “Who can do this for me?”, but you will still have new things to learn. Technology alone is changing so quickly, it seems everyone is freaking out.
So, as you evaluate where you are today, you want to identify what skills and knowledge you need as the business owner to take your business to the next level, in addition to working on your mindset.
And my favorite way of doing this is by looking at the business goals for the year and asking which is the most important skill that will help me achieve the goals. That’s it.
Now, if you have a team, remember to ask this question in the confines of your responsibilities. The unique contribution you make to the growth of the business.
It’s A Journey
What helped you get your first sales is not what allowed you to reach 5-figure revenue and will not get you to the 6- and 7-figures.
Personal leadership is always a journey. For everyone. But especially for you as the business owner.
Yes, the skills required to start a business are completely different from the ones needed to reach a million-dollar revenue.
Also, becoming a visionary leader is not something you achieve and then forget about it. You probably know this but if you don’t work on your mindset every single day, things start to go downhill. The world sucks you in and makes you angry and frustrated.
Btw, your reaction to these last few statements shows a lot about your current mindset. If you feel excited about it, you are closer to tapping into that visionary mindset than you think. If you are frustrated by it, well, let’s say that you have a bit of a longer journey ahead.
As I’m wrapping things up for this post on personal leadership, I want to make one last thing clear. You don’t have to be the one leading the company all the time. Maybe you reached the 6-figures and now you hire a CEO to take you to the 7-figures and beyond. While you enjoy being the owner and setting the vision.
This is what personal leadership is all about. Becoming that visionary leader who operates with clarity, keeps on learning, and truly cares about everyone.
