Are You An Influential Leader? Here's How To Find Out.

When it comes to leadership, I genuinely believe that it’s the most important quality to develop in life and business. We all have a leader inside of us. We are all born with the capacity to lead but we must make that decision to grow.

Every person has the ability to lead by example but not many people do it. The best companies in the world aren’t successful because they have a great product or service but because they have a world-class leader.

See, any business can have a great product or service but if the leader isn’t aligned with the vision then that stuff doesn’t matter. It’s the leader's responsibility to ensure that the companies mission, beliefs, and values are aligned.

Does Leadership Matter?

“Improve the leader, Improve the business.” — Gerard Adams

Leadership has been the foundation of two 8-figure companies that I successfully bootstrapped. As CEO, I’ve learned that leading by example is everything…real leaders practice what they preach.

Ever since I was a kid, leadership was being instilled into my character. I remember my dad leaving these little quotes around the house from Marcus Aurelius, John F. Kennedy, and other leaders to help become a better man.

Like anything worthwhile, being a leader isn’t easy. It’s a difficult road but the results will always speak for themselves. A leader has the ability to consciously choose their intentions, thoughts, and actions in every moment.

It’s self-mastery.

Ultimately, I believe that a leader’s duty is to build, educate and inspire others to be their own leaders. The more you empower others, the more opportunities will manifest for you which has been the case for me.

Here Are Three Lessons I’ve Learned About Leadership In The Past 18 Years of Entrepreneurship:

Lead By Example

If you’re in a leadership role or the CEO of a business, then you must lead your team by being an example. You can’t preach to your team to show up to work on time if you’re coming in late too. That’s not being a leader…

To successfully grow other leaders and businesses, you need to embody the values and behaviors that you expect your team to live up to. You should have company values that everyone abides by no matter what role they’re in.

My company's values take up ten pages. I'm sharing this with you because your company’s values will drive the behaviors and decision making of your business. Values become the guiding compass for your mission and team.

As the CEO, I constantly self-reflect and ask: “How do I want to show up for myself, my team and my clients?” In order to show up powerfully and to inspire my team… I knew I had to embody the values that I wanted them to adopt and practice.

So, before you preach to your team about how you want things done, make sure you’re living up to your own standards. You’ll need to educate and mentor them towards becoming their best self but it starts with you first.

As a business owner, figure out what people in your market are looking for in a leader and, don’t just say you’ll do those things — show proof (through content) and actions that you are those things.

Do you have company values and are you living up to them?

How To Lead From The Heart

What does it mean to lead from the heart? It means having empathy, compassion, humility, and understanding towards your team, clients, family, friends, and community. It’s being able to check your ego and embracing co-elevation.

To lead from the heart is to genuinely love and care about the people you work with, the clients you serve and the impact you’re leaving on humanity.

Leading from the heart is showing vulnerability which I know makes a lot of business people cringe. This happens when there’s high masculine energy in business because often times vulnerability is perceived as a sign of weakness. But times are changing...

A couple years ago, I had a hard time sharing my most vulnerable life stories and business failures because I didn’t want people to know I was struggling…until I had a life-changing conversation with a Navy Seal.

I met this Navy Seal in San Diego for a brief time while I was there. Two weeks later, as I’m back in NJ, I get a call from one of my employees while I was still working at my previous company Fownders that a guy named “Paul” was there to see me.

I drove up and saw Paul, the Navy Seal I spoke with in San Diego. I was blown away by the fact that he went to visit me all the way in New Jersey because it was so unexpected but he said he could help me.

Paul asked how I was doing and I started to open up about how I was really feeling inside. As we spoke, he said something that will stick with me for the rest of my life which was:

“A real leader has to show vulnerability. As a seal, if I don’t let my team know when I’m hurt and down, how are they supposed to know when to be there to pick me up?”

That’s when it all made sense. I realized that leadership is way more than showing up with a superman cape every day as if I’m unstoppable...

Rather, it’s sharing what you’re going through so that others know when to step up to support you and it allows people to know that they aren’t struggling alone…that’s being a real superhero.

Are you leading from your heart?

How To Lead With Purpose

“A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way.” — John C. Maxwell

To lead with purpose is to lead with clarity. It’s having a clear sense of direction for yourself, your team and the people you serve. This includes your clients, loved ones and community.

Ask yourself these two questions:

How do I expect others to think, act and behave?

Am I living up to those expectations myself?

These questions can help you determine where you need to make adjustments because if you expect people to behave one way but you’re not living up to those expectations yourself, then you’ll lack the influence needed to lead.

Getting clarity on how you want others to show up is great but it’s equally important to understand why. To get people invested in your vision and values, they must understand “why” your vision and “why” those values. Why you?

Your vision and values will determine the team and clients you attract to your business. Your current team and clients are a reflection of your vision & values. Are your business, team, and clients what you envisioned them to be? If they aren’t then there’s still work to be done.

If you’re a business owner or aspire to have your own business someday, then these three lessons on leadership will apply to you. Remember, your income, impact, and influence is a reflection of your leadership.

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