I believe Leadership Habit No. 3 is to Ask Questions. Nobody likes a know-it-all, and too many leaders I’ve experienced pretend to be just that. I think I understand why leaders pretend to know it all. It’s because these leaders often do know more than those with whom they’ve surrounded themselves. In my experience, this has usually been done intentionally.
The leader likes being right – and isn’t afraid to pretend he/she is – especially when surrounded by the leader’s own hand-picked team of “Yes” folks. I know because I’ve been that way myself – and probably more often that I’d care to admit. But where I’ve made the most progress as a Leader is when I’ve asked my team questions and then shut up.
The team is there for a reason, after all. It’s not to do what I say. It’s to be challenged to learn and grow. That won’t happen by me telling them what to do. It may, though, by asking them how they might do it.
I’m not the most mature person in the world, but I’m mature and self-aware enough to get that what’s important isn’t how quickly I can respond, but instead how thoughtfully I can. I can hate your idea and I can be pissed off about what just happened or what you just said. But as the Leader, I’m already in charge, so do I really need to drive that already-known point home to make you feel like I just sh*t on you? I never thought so.
For me, being a good – or maybe even a great – Leader doesn’t just come down to having an understanding about what good Leadership takes.
It also comes down to the execution of what it takes. To the doing of what it takes. To the habits of what it takes. Read all my 10 leadership habits here.
I love supporting and helping entrepreneurs bring their dreams to fruition, break through barriers, and achieve massive success.
As an entrepreneur myself, I’ve helped found, grow, and sell 2 waste treatment, recycling, and disposal companies. These companies collectively generated more than $500M in revenue while I was involved and sold for more than $180M.
I’ve lived in entrepreneurial shoes like yours since I was 26. For 30 years I’ve been through – and am still on – the roller coaster you’re on. I’ve experienced the excitement, pain, grit, and mistakes that come with every entrepreneurial journey.
You can learn about many of the problems I dealt with starting my companies, and how I overcame them in my book “Owner Shift – How Getting Selfish Got Me Unstuck” available on Amazon. Purchase my book Owner Shift, make notes along the way in the book, and reread all the stories that inspire you to become an entrepreneur. I want this book to inspire you on your entrepreneurial journey to get unstuck, and achieve the future you always imagined.
If you prefer to listen, get my audiobook, Owner Shift. Free with your trial on Audible or Amazon. You’ll get access to all my stories that lead me to become an entrepreneur. Most importantly, you’ll hear my journey to get unstuck, and achieve the future I always imagined. And you’ll hear it directly from me, I narrate the audiobook!
And if you want my professional help as your coach, contact me here. I’ve mastered what it takes to start, build, grow, and sell a business. When I work with clients through my OwnerShift coaching, I help entrepreneurs and business owners get unstuck and start living the life they want.
My purpose is to inspire and activate increasing greatness in entrepreneurs and leaders. My goal is to make a positive and profitable difference with every client I work with. I help clients apply the lessons I’ve been fortunate to learn in my 30 years as an entrepreneur to help them excel and create amazing lives, companies, teams, and futures.
I don’t do this work to make a living.
I do it to make a difference.
I’m very selective about my OwnerShift coaching relationships. I ONLY work with these kinds of clients:
- Entrepreneurs and CEOs of profitable, privately held companies leading companies with revenues between $10M and $250M.
- Leaders who are committed to moving beyond where they are professionally and personally AND have the autonomy to make the decisions and take the actions necessary to do so.
- People who value making significant investments in themselves.
- Kind people.
OwnerShift is an exclusive and customized one on one coaching program for high-performing entrepreneurs and CEOs. It’s designed to guide them to the bigger and brighter personal and professional future they want to own and make their property.
In the OwnerShift program, my client is the Hero, and I am their Guide. I will never have all the answers, but I will always ask the right questions.
My mission is to help every client identify, sharpen, and leverage the tools in themselves, and those in their companies, to make significant progress toward their most important life goals.
Take the first step and learn more about my entire OwnerShift Coaching program.
