Top 10 Leadership Traits

What traits do great leaders have?

1.  Honesty - it is true honesty is the best policy and it works 100% of the time in all situations.

2.  Delegate - yes the ongoing lesson of learning to let go and empowering others on your team to take care of the task at hand.   This is the most challenging trait and still working on it!

3.  Communication - this can be attributed to most successes and most failures.   Effective, clear communication is one of the most important keys in leadership.

4.  Sense of Humour - tough in a way as it sometimes backfires and attempted humour via sarcasm could lead you into trouble.  It needs to be a natural and in good sense of humour on a light subject to work.

5.  Confidence - it is OK not to know everything, however, it is in how you interpret the information and how confident you are when you lead the situation that count.

6.  Commitment - following through on every task and promise until it is completed and asking for feedback when it applies makes you a great leader.  Remember the follow-up rule?

7.  Positive Attitude - just like negativity is contagious and spreads like wildfire, so is being an optimist.  Always looking at every challenge as an opportunity is best attitude to achieve successful results.

8. Creativity - explore new ways of achieving results which may not have been done yet with your Team.   What different things can you lead with that are new to set you apart from the rest?

9.  Intuition - your gut instinct is usually right and you should follow it.   Occasionally second guessing yourself is required, however, you will find your intuition is correct most of the time.

10.  Ability to Inspire - as a leader your role is to inspire and invigorate everyone around you, including your team, your clients, your prospects and everyone else you interact with.   

What other traits do you find great leaders need to have?

Inspired by this Forbes article:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/tanyaprive/2012/12/19/top-10-qualities-that-make-a-great-leader/

Vulnerability Makes You a Better Leader

Being vulnerable makes you a better leader. 

"People prefer their leaders with an appropriate balance of confidence and humility.  Yet, one of the greatest challenges many leaders struggle with is embracing (and revealing) their own vulnerabilities."

Why do many feel they have to be perfect and never make any mistakes?  There is a significant difference between striving for perfection and appearing to be perfect.   Many cannot tell the difference and struggle with people like us.   Yes we strive for perfection while at the same time we are open to being vulnerable - the balance.

In a recent presentation which included some personal stories, one gentleman approached me to ask why there was such an admission of a weakness?  My response was open, honest and straight-forward:   "I am not embarrassed to admit sometimes you deal with all the pressure by going home and spending some alone time and yes even cry".   He seemed to have a real problem with being this honest and sharing it with the audience.   It's the only policy I know!

Continuously raising the bar and striving for excellence while being vulnerable are what makes you a better leader.

Maintaining Customer Relationships

What are your keys to maintaining customer relationships?

Good communications is always a major key factor.   Listen to your customer and welcome the candid feedback.   Take this candid feedback and make the necessary changes to improve on.  This will differentiate you from the rest.

Be real and sincere by showing how much you care about your customer.   Building trusting relationships requires honesty.  Pretending to care or going through the motions to care will not cut it and they will notice it.

Help your customer to be more successful.   When you are playing a role in contributing to your customer' success you build better relationships.  What things can you do to help your customer be more successful?

Follow-up, follow-up and follow-up by communicating on a regular basis will strengthen the relationship, result in ongoing business opportunities and provide referrals for you to build new relationships with.  

Tech Sector changing the Region's Landscape

The Region's technology sector is growing and changing the landscape in our Region.

If you had an opportunity to stop by the recent Technology Show at the Caboto Club, there were a number of established and brand-new companies exhibiting their products and services.

This is great news for the Region and the number of Entrepreneurs starting businesses in the Technology and Innovation sector will continue to grow in this area.   There are many excellent organizations and resources to work with, assist and coach these entrepreneurs.

Thanks to the Chamber of Commerce for hosting the Technology show and to all the sponsors, exhibitors, speakers, volunteers and attendees for their support.  Very proud to be part of this show for the three years.

Proud to be part of WEtech Alliance as the Region's Information Centre for technology and innovation companies.   WEtech sponsored display tables for local young entrepreneurs!

It is very exciting to have presenters on the main stage from the industry leaders such as Google, Microsoft and Cisco.

There is collaboration happening with our peers in the industry and look forward to creating more opportunities and jobs in this region.   Our technology sector is really taking off and glad to be part of this movement!