Leza Parker: The Charismatic Leader

People underestimate the significance of the founding CEO of a company. Even the entrepreneur themselves. Good leadership is one of the most important essence in leading the company right, starting from the initial structure all the way through its scalability and growth over seasons. And no matter how many articles I read about leadership, from varying concepts, applications and diversified successful founders - it leaves me clueless once again how those stories can lead my actual people.

So I've decided to study the psychology of human beings instead, in understanding the basic fundamentals of human interaction. What kind of aura keeps an individual driven, what inspires and more importantly, what wins people within the shortest period of time. As much I think I have cracked the code to the way people think and operate, I am always eager to understand more for two reasons (a) it matters when we are running a people's company (b) and the fact we live around people every day of our lives. Understand people in general, is essential to tailor the way we behave, respond and react to people. In business - it helps the founder to great extent, to win people when we know how to, in the most effective way that wins both ends.

It's tiring to lead people through physical presence. Being there in the office all day, just to motivate and lead through meetings, discussions and brainstorming is just physically draining followed by mentally draining. This is what limits a leader from leading bigger teams, because time is a constraint and location is a restraint.

Leadership is a serious commitment. Only tiring if you needed to be present to ensure people stay driven. If leadership is practised right, its' seamless to lead a hundred as you do with one. The objective is to keep your team highly motivated, driven and effective as they would in your presence, despite your absence. Which is why, I have delve deeper into what truly makes a person driven.

People have always behaved the same way.

They are constantly looking out to be associated with something they are proud of, find themselves a true sense of belonging and be supported with an environment that continuous enhance their development as a person and a professional.

So charm them.

Charm with compliments, care and concern. Their well being should be one of your priorities among everything else, and show that in clear definition as you make decisions, ask opinions and plan for growth. Give generous compliments, appreciating the small and large efforts every team delivers on a regular basis and let that be your habit, regardless how they respond to your compliment. Empowering people by taking care of their well being, touches a person on a way personal level.

Charm with empowering. Take pride in creating an environment that is customised to their development. Leadership is very individualised, and it's never a one rule applies all at all! A leader takes pride to tailor each progression path for the team member that suits them best. It takes extra homework in understanding the things that drive them naturally and it could be from having flexibility of time at work to being supported in educational development keeping them stimulated. You show dedication in a genuine fashion, in their development and a space with freedom to suggest, apply and implement that knowledge. Empowering people with supporting their intellect growth and opportunities encourage self starters and self motivators. And when that becomes a habit, they are independent in taking accountability of their deliverables. Even when you are not there.

Charm with confidence. People are always looking out for sense of direction. Managing a lot of affairs in life, is stressful on its own and a guidance is essential for others to keep their emotional, mental and physical well being stable. A leader display attributes of strength, resilience, perseverance and positive - giving confidence back to the team member. People are driven by energy, and how you progresses in achieving milestones is what naturally make them reciprocate. They will grow to be what you are.

The important key points a leader must take note in order to make charming work includes the following:

Make people understand your power, but do not exercise that power. As a paymaster, you always have the upper hand in the office from hiring to firing, and can impose authoritarian decisions that can affect a team member instantly. But its important that while you remain transparent with your position in the hierarchy, you always bother to make people feel important and that it's not your interest to use that power to tell them what to do in any circumstance. In all honesty, people will never follow what you tell them to do - they follow you because they respect and admire you. They follow you based on choice, not command. Always work towards achieving that kind of bond with your team members, and only as a last resort, exercise your power to remove people when they no longer can be saved within your leadership.

Make their struggles yours, then solve it with them. When a team member struggles, remember no one intends to fail on purpose. So look to find the core of the problem with them, and trust that every small setback in your smaller departments still collectively contribute to a overall failure or losses eventually. With that in mind, identify the issues from when its small scale - by listening to the feedback of the team member itself - and make the time, to identify and rectify together instead of making decisions assuming you have all the answers. Because you don't. Only the people experiencing that hiccup in their work will better explain to you the issues halting them. Keep them involved in solving issues together, so this habit encourages open approaches to discussing issues to come.

You are powerless as an individual. Remember that as an individual with a smart idea, you are never going to make it anywhere. And that not everyone, is keen to make your dreams come true if it totally do not coincide with their personal goals. So giving credits to team and improving in leadership is mandatory practice for a CEO, because you would have way less value, significance and presence without a supporting team. So reduce and minimise arrogance, because your success never happens with your two hands alone. Its the intervention of a group of people with expertise you don't have, wanting to make it happen for you and indirectly for their own success. Give credits for performance, penalise less for mistakes and look beyond monetary gain.

Leadership is not a skill alone, its more about the interest. You can read a thousand books, but if people is not as important to you as much power is - then you can never be a leader. A leader is also not a job role written on a employment letter like manager is, CEO is, but instead a leader is a position appointed by others of you.

So if you want to start to be a leader, charm people because you are able to, because you want to and because you care to. Human will always be your best assets, as they form the largest talent pool. That if you tap it right, you'll be achieving ridiculous progression with more brains, more intellect, more hands, more experiences and more interests in one funnel.

Work on being the leader, people choose to follow.

Charm them again and again so your team chooses you, not because you chose them.

Follow me on Youtube and my business blog. Over the many years, I've helped businesses grow and raised funding, invested and exited a few, and built my own tech start ups. Feel free to contact me if you need any help for your business.

Read my other related articles too.

1. Here's to my favourite employee.
2. I'm a CEO second, a mother first.
3. Your desire to succeed determines your success.