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Success Advice

The Difference With Being A Leader Vs An Everyday Employee.

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After being a ‘bank jock’ as one of my former clients put it, for the last seven years, I recently transitioned into a people leader role.

Going from a regular employee — who only has to worry about their own KPI’s — to a leader, has taught me a lot in a short space of time.

Leadership is very different to a normal career as you might have guessed. You can’t do what you did as a single contributor in a business when you’re a leader.

You have to think differently when you go from being an everyday employee to a leader.

Here’s what changes when you become a leader:


You must control your state.

As a regular employee (especially in sales) you can fly off the rails and operate from any state you wish.

As a leader, you have to learn to control your state.

When a customer escalates to you from your team, you have to control how you react. You’re supposed to be the bigger man or woman.

Instead of jumping to conclusions, you’re expected to use your emotional intelligence to understand the problem and stay calm in stressful situations. 
You can’t go and cry to your boss every time a problem arises. And problems will arise even more as a leader.

Knowing how to control your state will save you.

Keeping the bigger picture in mind and not falling for short-term emotional states is a skill you’ll have to implement quickly if you are to succeed.


You must confront your fears.

As a regular employee, you can hide behind others and go unnoticed. I learned this the hard way when I suffered from mental illness and didn’t confront the issue head-on.

I hid my fear of anyone finding out about my mental illness and it crippled my career.

As I transitioned into being more of a leader I learned how to confront my fears and even share them.

The best leaders are vulnerable and if you’re to become one, you’ll need to learn to confront your fears on a daily basis. Why? See the next point.


You must go first.

As a regular employee, you follow the leadership team and watch what they do first. You let the leaders make decisions and then you execute.

As a leader, everything starts with you.

Leaders must go first and that’s why you’ll have to confront your fears. Going first means feeling the fear and taking action regardless. You can’t let fear hold you back if you are to go first.

You must go first as a leader because it’s on you to set the tone and be the example of what’s possible.


You must inspire.

As a regular employee, you are the one being inspired. You look to mentors and leaders to inspire you and show you what’s possible.

As a leader, everything happens in reverse. Your sole job is to inspire people to take action and execute on the goals of the business. This is done through your own example.

“Your job is to use the challenges you’ve overcome in your own career and life to inspire your team to do the same”

You do this by sharing the following:

  • Huge failures in business
  • Health challenges
  • Romantic relationship issues and even divorce
  • Career gaps
  • Side hustles you started

You can also bring in third-party tools to assist such as Ted Talks, inspiring videos and online courses.

My favorite tool to use is to get colleagues to attend Tony Robbins events where they can be inspired face-to-face and be fully immersed in life-changing strategies.

Whatever you do, as a leader, you must inspire.


You must give first.

“To get people to do what you want, you first have to give them what they want”

This is the part many wannabe leaders mess up. Your job is not to dish out orders; your job is to find out what motivates the people who work for you and then help them hit their personal goals.

Once people feel like you have their back and they are well on the way to hitting their own goals, they’ll do whatever is required to help you hit your goals. It starts with you. Give first.


You don’t get to complain.

As a regular employee, you can complain all you want. It’s your bosses problem to deal with and to listen to.

Leadership is very different. Your job is not to complain but to identify issues (10%) and then spend the other 90% of your time solving those issues.

Going from a culture of complaining to problem finding, followed instantly by solution identification is not easy.

It feels good to complain and then do nothing.

As a leader, you’ll never do well if you complain yourself. You’re expected to have given up the game of complaining when you become a leader. You’re expected to be better than that.


You’ll have to be clear what you stand for.

As a regular employee, no one is going to necessarily ask you what you stand for on a daily basis. All that changes when you become a leader.

Leaders stand for something and they have a list of principles they lead by. I learned this the hard way when I interviewed for a leadership position and was asked what I stood for.

I fumbled around trying to answer the question and had not thought about what I stood for as a leader before. Now I’m crystal clear on what I stand for.

Here’s what I stand for as an example:

  • Everyone gets treated equally
  • I won’t ask you to do something I’m not prepared to do myself
  • I will inspire you to pursue whatever goal lights you up
  • I will help you write a clear career plan that we will follow up on fortnightly
  • I will inspire you through personal development
  • I will not abuse my power and use it for good
  • I will expect you to give back to the community in your own unique way
  • I will breed more leaders from my team

As a leader, you’ll need to stand for something and have a set of principles that guide you.


You’re responsible. The End.

The biggest difference between a regular employee and a leader I’ve learned is that you’re responsible. No matter who messes up, you’re expected to own issues and be responsible.

The buck stops with you and you can’t transfer the blame away from yourself like you can as a regular employee.

As a leader, you will fail and that’s okay. The key is to own your failures and admit them. After all, you’re paid more to be responsible. Responsibility is not easy, but that’s what leadership is.

“Leadership is not easy and that’s why we’re not all leaders”

The beauty is that being a leader allows you to grow more than you ever have before. Leadership is not something to be afraid of, but rather it should be embraced.

Don’t abuse your power. Use your power for good.

Transitioning from being a regular employee to a leader is one of the best decisions you’ll ever make.

Leadership will define you.

<<<>>>

If you want to increase your productivity and learn some more valuable life hacks, then join my private mailing list on timdenning.net

Aussie Blogger with 500M+ views — Writer for CNBC & Business Insider. Inspiring the world through Personal Development and Entrepreneurship You can connect with Tim through his website www.timdenning.com

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Success Advice

How to Alter Your Business Approach With Technological Advancements

Keeping up with technological trends has become a challenge for almost every business owner.

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altering business approach
Image Credit: Midjourney

Technology’s evolution has impacted everything, and business is no exception. Keeping up with technological trends has become a challenge for almost every business owner. Entrepreneurs unable to do so are being wiped out of the market.

There is no doubt that AI (Artificial Intelligence) and ML (Machine Learning) have taken over the business world. These technological advancements are impacting decision-making, success percentages, and other entrepreneurial aspects.

Adapting to these developments is integral to business success. Let’s explore how you can accomplish these milestones.

Embed the strength of AI and ML.

AI has modified business operations in major ways. For instance, companies have employed bots for customer support. These bots go through an effective learning process via Machine Learning before being able to answer like humans.  

Bots can also perform detailed data analytics and make business moves with high success percentages.

ML is used more for the analysis of data chunks and generating successful predictions. This simply means that business owners do not have to worry about large-scale financial losses. 

In terms of deployment and usage, a reputed company like Netflix employs machine learning for decision-making.

Blockchain is increasing the count of business opportunities

Tampering of financial transactions is quite common and causes severe monetary damage to customers. With the rise of digital payments, this risk has increased. 

Blockchain is used to elevate your experience for monetary transfers. It combats penetrating events to extract confidential customer information. 

Most business sectors are using block chain but finance and supply chain management sections have a higher count. These two corporate sections have several monetary deposits and withdrawals taking place. 

In terms of percentage, approximately 72% and 5% of finance and supply chain firms have implemented block chain successfully.

Dedicate Yourself to Continuous Learning and Individual Development

You invest in learning some of the very important skills, including digital marketing, financial management, and how to gain customers as an entrepreneur.

You need to set up your knowledge base about doing business on Coursera and Udemy with the basics that are necessary for the business, building further by networking with experts through webinars.

Besides, Agile methodology will introduce elasticity to your company: this review and feedback system with further correction regularly will allow for enhancing efficiency and promptly reacting to the market.

Developing key skills to achieve goals

Running a business successfully is not only about having niche/domain knowledge. Business owners need to have communication / soft skills as well in addition to niche information.

Here are some key technical/domain-related areas that business owners should have a strong grip on.

Data Storage on Cloud: These days, companies do not store their data on physical servers. Therefore business owners should know how data is stored/edited/removed/updated via AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and other platforms.

Data Analysis/Interpretation Qualities: These days, data is as precious as gold. Business owners with data analysis abilities make correct predictions. As a result, their ventures grow in volume.

Development/Coding Knowledge

Programming knowledge gives business owners an edge whether the application is developed in-house or outsourced. It assists in getting updates deployed and handling application underperformance without getting professional support every time.

Hacking proof framework

There is no benefit of having an advanced automated system if can be penetrated. Successful business owners have above-average knowledge of cyber security and hacking attempts. They are able to choose top-notch anti-hacking software without much of an ambiguity.

Communication Abilities/Soft Skills

Here are some key communication qualities that business owners should have:

Communication/Conversation: Business owners should use to-the-point sentences in both written and oral communication.

Issue Resolution Abilities: Business owners should be able to drill down to problems and solve them. This is done successfully only if an entrepreneur has in-depth business domain knowledge.

Agile Implementations

It is mandatory for business owners to have knowledge of iterative/agile models. With such a competitive environment, it is impossible for business owners to succeed without adopting an agile framework.

Create a productive well-crafted Business Strategy

A productive business venture starts with a clear vision. The first factor making a business successful is the idea behind it. It helps with endless growth and combating competition successfully. Katherine Philips once mentioned that business goals are inevitable if goals are set concretely.

  • Goals should be based on smart achievements instead of complexity. Focus on the value that each one of them adds. 
  • Business objectives should not be vague. Key indicators should be constructed to measure the success/failure of each milestone.
  • Be realistic when setting goals. Do not aim at impossible milestones since they can be demotivating.
  • Milestones/goals need to be time-bound. Set a completion deadline for each one of them. 
  • Business goals should not be alien. Owners can think out of the box but not be obsolete / unrelated.

Create a productive well-crafted Business Strategy

Business owners cannot succeed without having a network. Some tips help in this case. Attend conferences and professional gatherings to connect with other entrepreneurs.
Here are some other related points business owners should pay attention to.

  • Attend meetings and conferences to stay updated with trends and meet business owners who already have well-set ventures. This helps in enhancing the learning curve of new / growing entrepreneurs.
  • Being a part of business communities/groups is very productive. When one shares opinions and discusses decision-making tactics, it helps in preventing errors and enhancing success rate.
  • Even the most experienced business owners have mentors as learning never stops. Take part in mentorship programs so there is an assurance that you are following the correct roadmap.

Conclusion

There is absolutely no doubt that business dimensions have evolved with technological advancements. Successful entrepreneurs have grabbed these changes in due course of time and continue to evolve. On the other hand, people following old paths and conventional steps fade out of competition. In a nutshell, keep an eye on the processes and practices you follow as these factors decide success rate.

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Success Advice

Understanding the Power of Yes and No: How to Create Boundaries For Success

These words have a significant impact on how our success unfolds

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Creating legal boundaries
Image Credit: Midjourney

The two smallest yet most powerful words in life, “Yes” and “No,” have a big impact on our growth on both personal and professional levels. In addition to affecting the choices we make every day, these words have a significant impact on how our success unfolds. (more…)

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Motivation

From Couch Potato to Go-Getter: A Step-by-Step Motivation Plan for Everyone

By understanding what motivates you, you can turn your dreams into reality

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How to be motivated
Image Credit: Midjourney

Are you tired of feeling like a couch potato? Do you want to transform your life and become a go-getter? You’re not alone! Many people struggle with motivation, but the good news is that change is possible. (more…)

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Success Advice

10 Micro Financial Habits for More Wealth and Peace of Mind

The World Economic Forum still reports that half of U.S. adults lack financial literacy

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micro financial habits
Image Credit: Midjourney

You’ve heard about developing financial habits, but what about micro-financial habits? Micro habits are the tiny things you can do every day with minimal effort that, together, transform your future. (more…)

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