Here's how you can transform your industry expertise into influential leadership in your field.

Leadership requires taking business decisions with potential to positively influence the strategic direction of the organization. A leader don’t sit on the fence. As the saying goes, “if you don’t say here I am nobody will say there you are”. As chief executive officer of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) transforming the Institute into a world class professional accountancy organization with modern and efficient education programs did not come without decisions that impact expectations of students, members, governments and our professional accounting firms. The ultimate objective is and remains turning out chartered accountants and member firms that will act in the public interest at all times.

In any organization, establishing credibility is likely the most important “facet” of your career. When done properly, people from other business units will stop you in the hall and ask “Hey, what are you working in now? I know you always have cool projects and assignments to focus on and you always have creative solutions!” That level of organizational credibility requires a few factors: 1) Time in the organization and a broad, cultivated network 2) Success on either a specific problem area or consistently on multiple topics 3) An inherent desire to collaborate and share ideas with others to get to the root cause 4) Natural curiosity and developed problem solving skills. Once credibility is established, it tends to grow. It becomes legacy.

A great leader is someone who is a high achiever, but who also reaches down in hopes of having others meet or exceed his/her level of achievement. It's less about "self" and more about the "whole." How can I, as a leader, make changes or mentor others in a way that helps them reach their full potential?

To transform industry expertise into influential leadership, continuously deepen your knowledge and stay updated on industry trends. Share your insights through writing, public speaking, and social media to establish yourself as an authority. Actively network and collaborate with peers, while leading by example and maintaining high ethical standards. Mentor others and take on leadership roles to demonstrate your capability and inspire others. Build a strong personal brand that reflects your expertise and leadership style.

Transforming industry expertise into influential leadership requires engaging others. Share your knowledge generously. Mentor aspiring professionals, offering guidance and support. Empower them to grow and succeed. Collaborate with peers on innovative projects. Bring diverse perspectives together to drive groundbreaking solutions. Actively listen to stakeholders' concerns and ideas. Foster open, inclusive dialogues that spark creativity and build trust. Advocate for positive change in your industry. Champion initiatives that address key challenges and create shared value. Celebrate the successes of others. Recognize and elevate the contributions of your colleagues and team members.

Liderar pressup?e inspirar e levar as pessoas a realizarem objetivos. Bem como a consolidarem e implementarem ideias as quais você acredita e às disp?e para um determinado grupo. Para que isso se torne uma realidade é preciso que você tenha a competência de influenciar pessoas bem desenvolvida. Uma vez que, será está habilidade que tornará possível envolver diversas pessoas com pensamentos distintos em prol de uma ideia específica.

1) Empathy: Show genuine concern for the well-being of your team members. Understand their needs and challenges. 2) Collaboration: Foster a collaborative environment where team members feel valued and included. Encourage teamwork and support. 3)Empower others and don't micromanage your team

Transforming your industry expertise into influential leadership starts with connecting with others to exchange ideas and engage. Join professional associations to expand your network and immerse yourself in the latest trends and research. Engage actively in discussions, offer your insights, and listen to the perspectives of peers. Sharing your thoughts and contributing to industry conversations helps establish your credibility and influence. Sharing your knowledge through mentoring and teaching is another important aspect. Building these relationships and staying informed enables you to drive meaningful change and position yourself as a leader in your field. Speaking at events or roundtables is another great way to learn and share.

To actively engage people, you should believe in their potential and integrate them into the tasks that they can deliver and improve with success.

In my experience, effective leadership share their information to expand the knowledge within an organization which adds to continuity and to develop the future leaders of the organization. By sharing your knowledge and empower responsibilities to others also allows you to expand your knowledge and experience in higher levels and opportunities. While some believe keeping knowledge to themselves gives them influence, the reality is that the more you share, the more your influence is enhanced.

Sharing knowledge plays an important role for both to become a good leader and for the followers, it helps people understand the pros and cons of the situation, subject matter. So, that they can learn best and replicate things in the best possible manner. It always makes work easier in an efficient and effective way.

Sharing knowledge is the most underrated and yet the most powerful tool a leader has, all you have to do is repurpose your learnings and make it simple for others to understand, it makes information so much more accessible for others. Definitely support sharing knowledge for a leader

Ce que j’ai toujours considéré comme indispensable est de partager les informations dont on peut disposer pour faciliter le travail des autres : soit pour répondre à leur questionnement soit pour les projeter vers de nouveaux challenges Partager ses connaissances, échanger sur son domaine ,ou ses doutes permet à chacun de grandir et d’oser réussir. Celui qui se limite à emmagasiner des informations ou des connaissances ne rayonne pas et s’étiole : il croit détenir une force mais l’énergie vient des autres

Share Your Knowledge: This is what we are currently doing here as this is one of the forms of giving back to the community. Become a thought leader: Write articles, publish research, or give presentations at conferences. Share your insights on industry trends, challenges, and solutions. Mentor others: Guide junior colleagues by offering advice, sharing best practices, and providing feedback. Engage in online communities: Participate in industry forums, discussions, and social media groups. Answer questions, offer solutions, and build your reputation as a reliable source.

Innovation is always an interesting leadership challenge! How do you create an innovative culture and inspire people to think in new & different ways? In some ways, it begins with starting with “yes” & make people earn a “no”. That’s not the normal approach but one that can lead to many new ideas and discussions that you have never had before! Creating a culture of innovation begins by inviting new ideas & being open to experimentation and creating space for it to flourish. While many leaders talk about innovation, most leaders kill innovative thinking before it begins! Great leadership is defined by the ability to adapt and thrive in an ever-changing world! Few understand the mind of a startup leader & kill any process before it begins!

Learn and unlearn continously. Always remember that you occupy the leadership position in this case due largely to superiority in terms of technical skills and expertise. To remain relevant and to consolidate technical power, you have to continously improve your knowledge and skills. Seize every opportunity to achieve this. Don't forget to also lace technical knowledge and skills with soft skills and the right work attitude. This will help you to effectively lead and to conveniently engage, share, innovate, inspire and network.

You cannot force people to innovate. Innovation is the outcome of continuous care and a desire for excellence. Allocating time for exhibitions, and conferences to compare and align the solutions in different relevant areas and professions is the key to stimulating innovation.

Don't wait! It's never too late to ignite your potential. Here I am, at 59, on a thrilling adventure of self-discovery. I'm unlocking hidden talents and learning new skills – all to make a positive impact on the world around me. That's the true magic, right? Using our knowledge and creativity to build, help, and improve the lives of others. Let's innovate together and make our society incredible!

Stay curious and open-minded. Explore emerging trends, technologies, and best practices. Embrace a growth mindset and challenge the status quo. Experiment with new approaches and ideas. Pilot projects that push boundaries and drive progress. Learn from successes and failures alike. Foster a culture of innovation within your team. Encourage diverse perspectives and creative problem-solving. Provide resources and support for exploration. Collaborate with thought leaders and innovators across industries. Seek out opportunities to cross-pollinate ideas and co-create groundbreaking solutions. Share your innovative journey through thought-provoking content and engaging discussions. Inspire others to embrace change and think differently.

As a leader you're trying to inspire action from the team. If you're driving their action externally, that action will last only as you're there to drive them. This will give a certain level of productivity. The most effective action is internally driven. That will also tap into your teams' creativity and ideas, leveraging them to significantly improve productivity above the externally driven action. So how to do this? Trust your team members. Treat them as valuable adults by involving them in strategy and planning as much as possible. Take advice from them, as subject matter experts, even if you're not completely sure they're correct. Make them responsible for output, driving action, while creating a safe space to make mistakes.

Gosto muito do líder inspirador porque realmente acho que o líder precisar ser pra depois ter um título ou um cargo. O verdadeiro líder é aquele que é reconhecido pelo time, aquele que engaja, que envolve e faz o time chegar no melhor destino e na melhor solu??o. O lider que joga junto. Mas um líder também precisa criar rela??es de confian?a, conquistar parcerias com outros lideres, trocar ideias, ouvir, aprender com outras pessoas que tiveram experiências diferentes e assim aumentar o seu repertório e criar musculatura para dar o próximo passo na lideran?a.

Without action, nothing changes. How do we inspire action as leaders? With a compelling vision that people are willing to sacrifice for. If they don’t believe it’s worthwhile, they won’t make the effort. And what makes a vision inspiring? That's where emotions come into play. We need to understand what motivates people. According to the self-determination theory, motivation comes from giving autonomy, the opportunity for mastery, and working towards goals that contribute to the greater good of our community. Which ultimately, it taps into our most fundamental human needs: Need for freedom, need for achievement and need to belong. At the core, we are all the same, we share a common ancestor.

I think it is a misnomer that we as leaders can motivate others, but what we can do is help them stay true to their vision and champion for them. It’s not about winning or losing, but what you have learned along the way thru successes and failures. What are you doing to Become a Champion?

One thing helpful for me in building relationships is engaging as a member in associations/ societies focused on the profession, examples include quality, change management and engineering to name a few. The association will provide opportunity to hold leadership roles and build a network across industries! In my career I have worked in the energy, financial and technology sectors. Leadership is certainly transferable. It also provides for additional learning.

Including your colleges in new events and happening, can help them gain knowledge and perspective. Knowledge is the key to experience. Be humble when starting a new career.

One practical insight to transform industry expertise into influential leadership is to actively seek out opportunities to mentor others. By sharing your knowledge and experiences with emerging professionals in your field, you not only contribute to their growth but also enhance your own leadership reputation. Mentorship fosters a supportive environment, builds trust, and establishes you as a respected figure in your industry. Plus, mentoring can lead to valuable insights and perspectives from mentees, enriching your own understanding and reinforcing your leadership position.

Good leadership skills can take you across industries; if you prove yourself as an effective leader, you may be considered for a role in a different industry. Although most of the leaders I have worked with have stayed within the same industry throughout their career, I have worked with many who have been brought into executive roles in completely different fields from where they had built their career. Know that, even though you may not be an industry expert, you can find the right talent and experts to fill the necessary roles in your new organization. You can ensure that the experts are employing critical thinking and leading them into fully exploring options and information they might overlook, avoiding groupthink.

Leadership thrives on strong relationships. Taking the time to know your colleagues and celebrate their wins makes a huge difference. Building connections across the board not only boosts your influence but also sets the stage for teamwork. Plus, learning and growing together is what makes leadership truly impactful.

One of the best things I did was scale my impact beyond my job at Microsoft. I shared my experience by building a blog, writing articles, writing a book, and coaching across Microsoft and beyond. It sounds simple and obvious, but many experts don't think to start in their own backyard and simply start teaching courses at their company. I created a productivity framework first for myself, but then realized it would help more people. So, I started doing "Brown Bags" at Microsoft and then got asked to do more and more talks on my productivity system. Whatever your expertise is, you can share and scale it across your company and around the world.

To transform industry expertise into influential leadership, one must actively seek opportunities to collaborate with key stakeholders, drive change through strategic initiatives, and leverage their expertise to solve complex problems. By demonstrating a strong vision, fostering a culture of learning and growth, and advocating for industry advancements, one can establish themselves as a thought leader and influencer in their field, driving innovation and shaping the future of the industry.

One of the foundational elements of Leadership is understanding that it’s about service to others. This is pivotal To your success as a leader. Your credibility will translate as you mentor people that are working for you. Leadership is a privilege and an obligation. It’s about the people that work for you. It’s not about you. Keep that top of mind and it will pay off for you.

It seems we are missing something here. A leader is one who cares about her or his team. A leader makes sure that they don’t hold onto people but allow them to grow and even helping them if they wish to move - to another department, another location and maybe at times move on. A leader makes sure they feed their people first before eating - so don’t tell me someone is a leader when they pocket huge bonuses and leave their teams to pick up the scraps. You have to stand firm for your team, support them and nurture and grow them - even planning your own replacement.

As a leader, you want to create a safe environment where people feel safe to share thoughts, opinions and grow up together, so investing time and effort in building this safe space is a MUST for any good leader. Having it will make your team really trust you, having better deliveries and maybe inspire other people to do the same. Have empathy in mind and remember to be the leader that you always wanted to have.