Top 3 Pieces of Advice Every CEO Must Follow
Differentiating yourself as a leader in your business and a thought leader in your industry stems from how well you execute and your ability to continually evolve. No one was a better example of this than the late Steve Jobs and his advice of what every great leader must do still rings true today. Here are his top 3 lessons we can all learn from Steve Jobs and how they can be used to improve your leadership skills and skyrocket your business growth.
- Innovation is what separates a leader from a follower.
You cannot grow your business if you are not willing or capable of generating new ideas. The world’s most successful CEOs are those who are visionaries and are able to execute on their visions to make them a reality. Otherwise, without novel ideas, you will be playing the revolving “catch up” game trying to emulate what other companies are doing or have already done. If you can stay miles ahead of the curve and focus on innovating, then you will be able to shape how the industry grows and your company’s position within the marketplace.
- Perseverance is what distinguishes the successful from the non-successful.
In business, failing is a must, in order to learn and evolve. Without failure, there is no or very limited knowledge built. And, without advanced knowledge of what does and does not work, you will struggle to propel your business to new heights. The key is to “fail fast”, learn from your mistakes, internalize the lessons, and use them to fuel your perseverance to try again, in a different way. It is the persistent, unwavering executive that will try enough things, fail in enough ways, to then create the one blockbuster idea.
- Great businesses are never built by just one person.
Steve Jobs often equated running his businesses like a band where every member played a critical role in enhancing each others’ strengths. It is through this synergy that Steve Jobs was able to assemble the brightest minds in the world to create truly groundbreaking innovations that no one ever thought were possible. To excel with this point, it is important to take time to reflect on your own strengths and weaknesses. Once you have those identified, you will be able to begin building your team with other members who complement your strengths and can help fill in your weaker areas.
The key to differentiating yourself as a leader also comes down to how committed you are to pursuing professional development. If taking your leadership skills to the next level is important to your growth in 2020, then we invite you to consider joining The Brain Trust.
As Atlanta’s premier, award-winning CEO peer group, new members are able to instantly leverage the expertise of the group to craft effective business strategies and explore proven leadership techniques to strategically position their organizations for rapid growth. For more information about our CEO advisory group, click here.
