6 Leadership Qualities You Must Develop

Small business owners can be their own worst enemies. They can be short-tempered, short-sighted and chronically worried. This stresses staff, customers and vendors and WILL NOT serve your business or build success. Being a calm and centered leader will! Work on these qualities and watch the culture of your business change:1. Passion. If you aren't passionate about your service or products, how can you expect your customers and employees to be passionate? And if you aren't, why are you in the business you are in? Life is too short!2. Confidence. This can be a learned attitude and no one is confident 100% of the time. But for people to follow you, you need to be confident, committed and decisive.3. Transparency. This is a newer buzz word in industry and some interpret it to mean tell everything, all the time. Not so! What it does mean is to admit error and correct course quickly. Everyone fails and looking for a fall guy when you or your leadership was to blame is not a leadership quality.4. Knowledge. This is a seriously fast-paced world and staying on top of everyting is impossible. However, you must have a mindset of continual learning. While you may not be able to step in and take over the roles of all your employees, you should have a strong knowledge of what they do. You should also be reading industry magazines, technology and marketing blogs, and motivational books as much as possible.5. Patience. You must give those around you the room to grow and learn. People will try your patience (vendors and customers included), but they perform better with calm assertive leadership than for someone who is frantic or overwhelmed.6. Gratitude. This is so crucial. Feeling gratitude for what you already have, for the people within the business and without who have supported you, for each customer and transaction will help you foster more of the same. Take a moment to be thankful and always be willing to express that openly. by Steven Schlagel