“It’s
been said that leadership is making important but unpopular decisions. That’s
certainly a partial truth, but I think it underscores the importance of focus.
To be a good leader, you cannot major in minor things, and you must be less
distracted than your competition. To get the few critical things done, you
must develop incredible selective ignorance. Otherwise, the trivial will drown
you.”
--Tim Ferriss, Bestselling Author, Host of The Tim Ferriss Showpodcast
Confidence
“A
leader instills confidence and ‘followership’ by having a clear vision, showing
empathy and being a strong coach. As a female leader, to be recognized I
feel I have to show up with swagger and assertiveness, yet always try to
maintain my Southern upbringing, which underscores kindness and generosity. The
two work well together in gaining respect.”
-- Barri Rafferty,senior partner and CEO, Ketchum North
America
Transparency
“I’ve
never bought into the concept of ‘wearing the mask.’ As a leader, the only way
I know how to engender trust and buy-in from my team and with my colleagues is
to be 100 percent authentically me -- open, sometimes flawed, but always
passionate about our work. It has allowed me the freedom to be fully present
and consistent. They know what they’re getting at all times. No surprises.”
-- Keri Potts, Senior Director, PR, for college sports,
ESPN
Integrity
“Our
employees are a direct reflection of the values we embody as leaders. If we’re
playing from a reactive and obsolete playbook of needing to be right instead of
doing what’s right, then we limit the full potential of our business and lose
quality talent. If you focus on becoming authentic in all your interactions,
that will rub off on your business and your culture, and the rest takes care of
itself.”
-- Gunnar Lovelace, Co-Founder and Co-Chief Executive
Officer, Thrive Market
Inspiration
“People
always say I’m a self-made man. But there is no such thing. Leaders aren’t
self-made; they are driven. I arrived in America with no money or any
belongings besides my gym bag, but I can’t say I came with nothing: Others
gave me great inspiration and fantastic advice, and I was fueled by my beliefs
and an internal drive and passion. That’s why I’m always willing to offer
motivation -- to friends or strangers on Reddit. I know the power of
inspiration, and if someone can stand on my shoulders to achieve
greatness, I’m more than willing to help them up.”
-- Arnold Schwarzenegger, Former Governor of
California
Passion
“You
must love what you do. In order to be truly successful at something,
you must obsess over it and let it consume you. No matter how successful your
business might become, you are never satisfied and constantly push to do
something bigger, better and greater. You lead by example, not because you
feel like it’s what you should do, but because it is your way of life.”
-- Joe Perez, Founder, Tastemade
Innovation
“In
any system with finite resources and infinite expansion of population
-- like your business, or like all of humanity -- innovation is essential
for not only success but also survival. The innovators are our
leaders. You cannot separate the two. Whether it is by thought, technology
or organization, innovation is our only hope to solve our challenges.”
-- Aubrey Marcus, Founder and CEO, Onnit
Patience
“Patience
is really courage that’s meant to test your commitment to your cause. The
path to great things is always tough, but the best leaders understand when
to abandon the cause and when to stay the course. If your vision is bold
enough, there will be hundreds of reasons why it ‘can’t be done’ and plenty of
doubters. A lot of things have to come together -- external markets,
competition, financing, consumer demand and always a little luck -- to pull off
something big.”
-- Dan Brian, COO, WhipClip
Wonkiness
“Understanding
the underlying numbers is the best thing I’ve done for my business. As we have
a subscription-based service, the biggest impact on our bottom line was to
decrease our churn rate. Being able to nudge that number from 6 percent
to 4 percent meant a 50 percent increase in the average customer’s
lifetime value. We would not have known to focus on this metric without
being able to accurately analyze our data.”
-- Sol Orwell, Cofounder, Examine.com
Stoicism
“It’s
inevitable: We’re going to find ourselves in some real shit situations, whether
they’re costly mistakes, unexpected failures or unscrupulous enemies. Stoicism
is, at its core, accepting and anticipating this in advance, so that you don’t
freak out, react emotionally and aggravate things further. Train our minds,
consider the worst-case scenarios and regulate our unhelpful instinctual
responses—that’s how we make sure shit situations don’t turn into fatal
resolutions.”
-- Ryan Holiday, Author of The Obstacle is the Way and Former Director of Marketing, American Apparel
Authenticity
“It’s
true that imitation is one of the greatest forms of flattery, but not when it
comes to leadership—and every great leader in my life, from Mike Tomlin to
Olympic ski coach Scott Rawles, led from a place of authenticity. Learn from
others, read autobiographies of your favorite leaders, pick up skills
along the way... but never lose your authentic voice, opinions and,
ultimately, how you make decisions.”
-- Jeremy Bloom, Cofounder and CEO, Integrate
Open-mindedness
“One
of the biggest myths is that good business leaders are great
visionaries with dogged determination to stick to their goals
no matter what. It’s nonsense. The truth is, leaders need to
keep an open mind while being flexible, and adjust if
necessary. When in the startup phase of a company, planning is
highly overrated and goals are not static. Your commitment
should be to invest, develop and maintain great relationships.”
-- Daymond John, Founder and CEO, The Shark Group and
FUBU
Decisiveness
“In
high school and college, to pick up extra cash I would often referee
recreational basketball games. The mentor who taught me how to officiate gave
his refs one important piece of advice that translates well into the
professional world: ‘Make the call fast, make the call loud and don’t look
back.’ In marginal situations, a decisively made wrong call will often lead to
better long-term results and a stronger team than a wishy-washy decision that
turns out to be right.”
-- Scott Hoffman, Founding Partner,Folio Literary
Management
Personableness
“We
all provide something unique to this world, and we can all smell when someone
isn’t being real. The more you focus on genuine connections with people,
and look for ways to help them -- rather than just focus on what they can do
for you -- the more likable and personable you become. This isn’t required
to be a great leader, but it is to be a respected leader, which can make all
the difference in your business.”
“Many
of my leadership philosophies were learned as an athlete. My most successful
teams didn’t always have the most talent but did have teammates with the right
combination of skills, strengths and a common trust in each other. To build an
‘overachieving’ team, you need to delegate responsibility and authority. Giving
away responsibilities isn’t always easy. It can actually be harder to do than
completing the task yourself, but with the right project selection and support,
delegating can pay off in dividends. It is how you truly find people’s
capabilities and get the most out of them.”
-- Shannon Pappas, Senior Vice President and General
Manager, Beachbody LIVE
Positivity
“In
order to achieve greatness, you must create a culture of optimism. There will
be many ups and downs, but the prevalence of positivity will keep the company
going. But be warned: This requires fearlessness. You have to truly believe in
making the impossible possible.”
-- Jason Harris, President and CEO, Mekanism
Generosity
“My
main goal has always been to offer the best of myself. We all grow -- as a
collective whole -- when I’m able to build up others and help them grow as
individuals.”
-- Christopher Perilli, Creative Director, Pixel Mobb
Persistence
“A
great leader once told me, ‘Persistence beats resistance.’ And after
working at Facebook, Intel and Microsoft and starting my own company, I’ve
learned two major lessons: All great things take time, and you must
persist no matter what. That’s what it takes to be a leader: willingness to go
beyond where others will stop.”
-- Noah Kagan, Chief Sumo, Sumo Group
Insightfulness
“It
takes insight every day to be able to separate that which is really important
from all the incoming fire. It’s like wisdom -- it can be improved with time,
if you’re paying attention, but it has to exist in your character. It’s
inherent. When your insight is right, you look like a genius. And when your
insight is wrong, you look like an idiot.”
-- Raj Bhakta, Founder, WhistlePig
Communication
“If
people aren’t aware of your expectations, and they fall short, it’s really your
fault for not expressing it to them. The people I work with are in constant
communication, probably to a fault. But communication is a balancing act. You
might have a specific want or need, but it’s super-important to treat work as a
collaboration. We always want people to tell us their thoughts and ideas
-- that’s why we have all these very talented people working with
us.”
-- Kim Kurlanchik Russen, Partner, TAO Group
Accountability
“It’s
a lot easier to assign blame than to hold yourself accountable. But if you want
to know how to do it right, learn from financial expert Larry Robbins. He wrote
a genuinely humble letter to his investors about his bad judgment that caused
their investments to falter. He then opened up a new fund without management
and performance fees -- unheard of in the hedge fund world. This is character.
This is accountability. It’s not only taking responsibility; it’s taking
the next step to make it right.”
-- Sandra Carreon-John, Director, Nike
Restlessness
“It
takes real leadership to find the strengths within each person on your team and
then be willing to look outside to plug the gaps. It’s best to believe that
your team alone does not have all the answers -- because if you believe that,
it usually means you’re not asking all the right questions.”
-- Nick Woolery, Vice President of Brand Marketing,
Stance Socks
