A CEO’S GUIDE TO BEING A TOPNOTCH LEADER
A CEO’S GUIDE TO BEING A TOP-NOTCH LEADER
Having great leadership qualities is not about winning a popularity contest. Good leaders may not always be liked, but they are always respected. Most importantly, a leaders job is to create harmony in an environment where people want to work together. Learning how to become a leader is essential to your success. Whether you own a business, teach at a school, manage a small group, coach an athletic team or are working to advance a worthwhile cause, you need to get help from others to accomplish your goals. This not only requires you to hold a vision of what success is, but it also requires you to practice coaching and training skills that will inspire others to want to help you reach that goal. HERE IS A CEO’S GUIDE TO BEING A TOP-NOTCH LEADER: 1. Adaptability The best leaders adjust their management style to suit the needs and personalities of those on their teams. For instance, they might hold brainstorming sessions to generate new ideas on a business process, but also welcome suggestions in writing, which may encourage less vocal employees to participate. As a leader, you have to survey the team that you will be leading. Access all the individuals in the group and how you have to adjust yourself to best lead this group. Leaders who are stubborn or unwilling to change their ways will struggle to be good leaders.
2. Strong Communication Skills Top-notch CEO’s promote open, two-way communication with staff members. They’re able to convey complex information effectively, both verbally and in writing. They also listen intently to feedback from employees and follow through with appropriate action. As a leader, you have to constantly communicate. Whether you’re communicating to your team or to potential customers, you will always have to utilize your words to get what you want. Learning how to communicate properly is going to be crucial to your success. 3. Ability To Inspire Leaders set the example for their teams by arriving at work each day eager for the challenges and opportunities ahead. They work one-on-one with employees to identify career paths and provide the necessary support for people to be successful with their goals. As a leader, you have to serve as a role model. What time do you come into the office? What time do you leave the office? It’s tough for a leader to ask their employees to work hard if they don’t do the same. It’s one thing to talk the talk, but can you walk the walk as a leader? 4. Vision Respected CEO’s also stay one step ahead of the curve with business developments. For instance, when making purchasing decisions, they look for products that will suit their team’s needs many years down the road. They also explain to employees how their work ties into the firm’s goals and priorities so they feel connected to the company’s long-term success. CEO’s are also visionaries because they have a vision that they need to carry out. In order to carry out this vision, they have to convince others to buy in and help them execute on it. As a leader, you need
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than you. As a leader, it can seem very vulnerable and scary, like you’re giving up so much perceived power, but it’s actually the source of your power. It’s the source of how big this thing can get. If everything comes from me, then it’s really going to be limited. You’ve got to make sure that there’s a team of people giving ideas and who can run the ball further than you could even imagine. That’s something I’ve had to learn over the last year and am constantly getting better with. CD: WHAT DO YOU ENJOY THE MOST ABOUT WHAT YOU DO? ST: What I love about Marketing is thinking about, how do we hit these complex emotions, how do we take an idea or thought and have someone resonate with it? That’s one of the coolest things about Marketing. You can watch commercials and think, man, that P&G ad just made me think about how my mom used to drop me off at sporting events and I want to go buy some detergent now. How do we get people behind this idea and make it click? We have this complex idea of technology that can take products and people, put it together, make it shoppable and make it simple. I also like seeing people use something that’s beautiful and that we’ve put into the world. We had so many people email us and ask for the app over the last year. So, we set a team goal to email all those people back personally with the link to let them know it was out. We wanted to be scrappy and send a heartfelt email. We got responses back from users surprised that we responded and said they were going to go download it and how they loved our site. People around the world are using the app right now. There’s someone in Germany using it, there’s someone in Dallas looking at the website. It’s cool to know people are using some-
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thing that you put out into the world. CD: WHERE DO YOU SEE THE FUTURE OF FASHION TECH GOING? ST: I think the possibilities are endless. Tech has revolutionized lots of different industries, and obviously retail. You’re seeing it within the groceries space with Amazon, and the introduction of the mobile device. When you think of the next technology platforms or technologies that are emerging, you think of the internet coin, AR, VR, just those three alone can really change the e-commerce retail fashion space. Imagine now, you’re shopping for clothes in your room, but you’re able to hold garments and see how they feel. With internet coin, and how people are paying for things with digital currency changing what we think about value. A dollar isn’t a dollar anymore, I can just give you some internet coins and buy clothes. It’s all happening fast. We take it for granted that almost 10-12 years ago, the iPhone wasn’t a thing. Also, the innovations of how clothes are made and how people interact with clothes and fashion will change. What’s also interesting, is that it’s not the tech that drives the culture, it’s the people. I’m excited to see how, even though the ball is pushed far, the people preserve the fashion that’s happened already. I imagine that seven years from now we’ll be seeing the same trends all over again. Think about the Champion brand that you could get from Kohl’s for $5.99 and now they’re in Urban Outfitters for $70. CD: WHERE CAN PEOPLE FIND YOU? ST: Looklive.com, iOS app in Apple Store, and Android coming soon. Instagram @lookliveapp, Twitter @ looklive, @scootertaylor, @chidiekalu
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