Practices That Accelerate Leadership Success

Below are my list of the top twenty-one practices that accelerate your success as a leader based on the most successful business leaders I know.

1. Action first, buy-in later.
2. Screening CVs for key roles oneself, as opposed to having HR make the first cut.
3. Praising publicly and criticizing privately.
4. Taking the lead in strategy development, and never delegating or outsourcing to others.
5. Never tolerating or forgiving illegal or unethical behavior of any kind, even when the impact is small.
6. Firing non-performing managers without fear of impact on client relationships.
7. Devoting the most time and effort in cultivating the excellent as opposed to shoring up the mediocre.
8. Cutting non-strategic business even though it is profitable, over objections from staff.
9. Abandoning ethically questionable business rather than using CSR to compensate for it.
10. Expanding into overseas markets because of greater returns and selling power rather than expanding only because the business has excess capacity.
11. Developing a network of peers for candid and confidential advice.
12. Taking the lead in corporate culture development and maintenance, as opposed to entrusting the task to HR.
13. Treating failure as learning rather than something to be avoided at all costs.
14. Rewarding the right behaviors and not just results.
15. Expressing pride and confidence in one’s ability to provide value to others is a moral imperative, rather than remaining silent for fear of being viewed as arrogant.
16. Seeking professional help when suffering from depression, as one would with any other health issue.
17. Never citing the economy or politics as an excuse for not growing the business aggressively.
18. Increasing investment in organizational development, R&D and marketing when financial performance is lower than desired, rather than trying to cut costs and save money.
19. Never cutting staff only to boost immediate financial results.
20. Taking time to recharge and take care of oneself rather than working obsessively, mistakenly thinking it’s required to be optimally productive.
21. Always presuming the best intentions in others by default until proven otherwise.

Have a question? Ask me. Have some other best practices to add? Tell me.