What’s Holding You Back from Being a Great Leader?
If you want to be a great business owner, then you need to be a great leader as well. But “wanting” to be a great leader isn’t enough — you need to be able to analyze your strengths and weaknesses, and figure out what it is about you that’s holding you back from greatness. This type of introspection is difficult, as we don’t really like spending much time thinking about our own flaws, but it’s necessary if you’re to get the best out of yourself.
Here are some of the most common factors or characteristics holding people back from becoming great leaders:
• A self-centered nature. Great leaders understand that getting others to follow them means focusing on improving the lives of other people, not just themselves. They need to be masters 
of interpersonal relationships and willing to put others before themselves. People will turn on you quickly (or refuse to follow you at all) if you come across as being self-centered.
• A fear of risks. Great leaders know it’s necessary to take a risk every now and then if they hope to have any chance of achieving success. This isn’t to say you can’t act in a calculated manner — you should still anticipate the outcome of these risks whenever possible. But sometimes you need to make business decisions that don’t have a 100 percent chance of success.
• Tunnel vision. If you get overly attached to a single vision or process and tune out potential problems or great ideas offered by other people, you run the risk of losing support from your team and failing to achieve true success. If you want to be a great leader, you need to have an open mind and be willing to listen to other people’s suggestions
• Refusal to delegate. You’re not going to have a complete understanding of every area of your company, and that’s ok. If you aren’t good with finance, for example, you can delegate your bookkeeping and accounting to someone who knows what they’re doing. If you aren’t good with marketing, find someone who can head up that area of your company. You can’t do everything all at once and expect to do it well, especially if you don’t have the necessary subject knowledge in particular areas.
• Unwillingness to work. Simply put, you need to be prepared to put in a lot of work and to lead by example. Who wants to follow a lazy leader?
Can you think of any other examples of personality traits or characteristics that can hold a person back from being a great leader?
by Christine Kelly
CEO and Queen Bee | Viral Solutions LLC
Copyright 2015 Viral Solutions LLC
Prior to joining Viral Solutions, Christine held executive leadership roles at some of the largest small business consulting firms in the USA. Her experience includes leading direct reports of over 130 remote sales agents who generated $38mm in annual revenue. She obtained her Marketing degree from British Columbia Institute of Technology. Bring her C-Suite experience to your small business. Although our company is virtual, and we can work with you wherever you are located, she is located in Denver, Colorado and owns a second home in Vancouver, BC Canada.
Viral Solutions LLC is a Digital Marketer Certified Partner and an Infusionsoft Certified Consultant.
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