Good Hearted Business Owner & Leadership
The first principle of leadership I'm going to suggest to you is leadership of yourself. You want to take on and challenge the belief that you cannot be a good-hearted business owner and earn money. That you want to challenge the belief that you can't be kind to your employees while keeping them accountable, or that you can't be a good person and do marketing or be sales-y. If you hold any of those beliefs, my first challenge is to take those beliefs on and take on personal accountability for your personal growth in that area. Take on a personal willingness to get out of your own way and to be a leader on the face of this planet. Your purpose is about you being a leader in your family, business, and your own life, which includes a willingness to be right or wrong. Your "yes" and "no" make a difference, be willing to stand behind what the outfall is from making a yes or no decision.
Leading By Example
If you want to have people around you come to their best; if you want people to truly seek within themselves that deeper sense of their inner sense integrity, responsibility, their greater self or their greater consciousness, lead by example. Leadership's tuning fork effect will pull people to you and make your bottom line more healthy and sound.
Leaders are seen. Being willing to be a leader means being willing to be seen.
To hide your light under a bushel is not to fulfill your purpose. Be willing to have your marketing material show you as the expert you are. Put your knowledge out in a blog; as an expert, it’s part of your job and it is your purpose to be found so that you can enrich people’s lives. What if the sun refused to shine or withheld its brilliance? We would be deeply affected by that and you are the same. Nature doesn’t apologize for itself and in fact, nature hates a void. You are here to fulfill your purpose, so step into it and do so. While doing so, hold your shape; be findable, be seen, and keep your boundaries. Maintain your integrity and professional limits with employees and customers.
Do you work on fulfilling your vision? It is your job to share the vision and to steward over it. One of my favorite quotes is, “Spirit meets you at the point of action and brings the vision forward”. So, unapologetically take action, and upgrade the vision if need be. Be mindful that visions can, and often do shift and change, so allow it to bend to adjust to the density of the world we live in. It takes time for your vision to be created, but every year, upgrade, re-enliven, realign your vision, and accept feedback.
Lastly, as a leader, accept that not everyone around you is a leader. There are people whose purpose is to follow the leader, and that is an act of their own leadership. Realize that your secretary may want the freedom to work from 9-5 and that others welcome the consistency and security of a weekly check. Not everyone will have the risk tolerance you do and not everyone is an innovator, besides, your vision isn’t their baby. Be a great leader and hold people accountable as a form of love and encouragement, and work hard while being a good-hearted business owner, not instead of.