Why business leaders need to adapt for all seasons

We’re mid-way through our annual Acronis mentorship programme in which our senior team members are coaching the next generation of senior talent, and we frequently discuss the question of what makes a good leader..?

Looking at the positive traits that help in business, there is no ‘one-size-fits-all-good-leader’ formula. I think you have to adapt to all seasons and all stakeholders, as each one is different. A good leader will adjust their approach according to the situation and the cultural background, seniority, and age of their employee, director, or client.?Leadership styles should remain flexible to address changing markets, industry evolution or company lifecycles, and in a downturn, you need to manage very differently than in a fast-growing economy.?

Your leadership style will change and evolve as you take on different positions, and I certainly experienced this as I moved back and forth between CEO and President roles. The most significant change was going from COO to CEO early in my career. As a COO, you still have your peers you can talk to, share the burden, or frankly just exchange ideas openly. As CEO, the responsibility stops with you, and even though you might still have your team, they all ultimately look to you for final guidance.?

Since Acronis is an international company with employees in 55 different countries, I’ve learned that you shouldn’t underestimate how varying cultures can influence international expansion goals. As an example, Acronis has headquarters in Switzerland and Singapore, where there are four official languages, as well as different business styles to consider. When managing staff, we must remember that Singapore has a more autocratic, directive business style, whereas, in Switzerland, a more democratic, collaborative style is preferred.?Direct feedback, or telling a superior they have made a mistake, is accepted in Switzerland, whereas in Singapore, this would be considered disrespectful.

Even in Europe, there are differences to consider; for example, a German-speaking Swiss, and a German-speaking Austrian or German, look at the world very differently. Just because you might speak broadly the same language, doesn’t mean you have the same customer preferences, views on the world, or understanding of upcoming challenges. That said, everyone is different, so embrace diversity and it will make everyone better and more successful.

On a different note, it might seem perverse to talk about failure and leadership in the same breath, but I believe it is crucial that good business leaders learn from their past mistakes, by reflecting on them, and making sure they don’t happen again. If you have a problem, don’t try to cover it up, as this will only make it worse, instead, put it on the table, with trusted colleagues, and solve it together.

I had the luxury of learning from many great leaders during different phases of my career, and I mostly learned from my failures. Trying out something I truly believed in, which then failed, and understanding why I failed, always provided the steepest learning curve.?I can certainly share some of the mistakes I’ve made in the past. For example, I kept betting on projects for too long, which didn’t succeed, so I created a model marking certain key milestones that projects should meet, or I would pull the trigger. For example, no estimated delivery deadline should be overrun by double the allotted timeframe. Similarly, if a project costs twice as much as anticipated, yet delivers half of what was promised, I’ll stop it. A project must be sufficiently financed, with key people dedicated to it, so there is no excuse for failure as they won’t be distracted from their key tasks. These are just some of the KPIs I use nowadays to ensure the same mistake isn’t made twice.?

While it’s good to analyse failures, don’t make them a self-fulfilling prophecy. A good leader must take the time to reflect on what happened, but without worrying their employees by talking about it constantly, as this could weaken their leadership significantly and will set them up for failure rather than for success.?

The importance of a leader showing empathy has been emphasised frequently during the Covid pandemic, and this is a general principle of leadership, pandemic or no pandemic, but there is a limit to it. For example, suppose someone is struggling due to a personal situation (self-inflicted or not). In that situation, they deserve a chance to fix it without it negatively impacting their career, but this could burden other employees. As a leader, you are responsible for everyone, not just specific people. So you need to consider the overall impact and work on a sustainable structure for everyone. You can create the friendliest business, but you still need to be able to pay the salaries of your employees, otherwise, everyone will lose.?

In summary, here are my tips for good leadership:

• Listen more than you talk. Most importantly, don’t ask your people to come to listen to you, instead, you go to them – this makes a real difference in how they perceive the things you want to share, both good and bad.?
• Training is vital, and no matter how senior you are, you can still learn how to be better. Leaders are not born but trained, and you must invest time to be successful.
• Remember that everyone has unique strengths. For example, a good goalkeeper is not likely to be a great forward player, so find your spot and figure out what makes you strong. And listen to your coaches who will help you to understand your abilities and areas for improvement, but don’t exclusively rely on them. There is only one person that really knows you well, and that’s you!
• Plan ahead, but with contingencies. Plans are great, but they will immediately hit a road bump when you start to execute them, so plan for this.
• Empower your people. You can’t do everything, so you need to pass on the baton to capable people who can help achieve the business’s objectives and strategy.
• I admire entrepreneurs who start a new business from scratch and understand when the time is right to pass on the baton to someone else. It could be a mistake to generate your $1 million in revenue, then continuing to push on and on until it outgrows you, and then being unwilling to let go.
• ?Hold your people accountable, but give them a chance. We are only human and learn as much from our failures as we do from our successes.
• Give yourself time to recharge. This is different for everyone. Some need yoga, or to read books, while others need martial arts full contact fights. Work out what recharges your batteries; in my case, this means a walk in the park with the phone with me, but no scheduled calls.