3 Traits of Successful CEOs

How do you know if you have what it takes to be a successful CEO? You’re going to have to show your employees that you’re committed to helping the company succeed in the long run, and you’ll need to know how to be transparent with them. This article provides 3 traits of successful CEO’s: transparency, long term vision, and empathy.

Why CEOs need to be transparent

A new type of leadership is emerging that sees transparency as a competitive advantage. While some CEOs worry about being vulnerable to competitors or concerned about their public image, there are many reasons why leaders should be transparent. Communicating honestly and openly helps build trust with employees and clients, which drives innovation. If you have nothing to hide then why hide it? Instead of fearing transparency, embrace it; your company will be stronger for it.

The importance of a long-term vision

Entrepreneurs tend to be focused on their product or service—and that’s a good thing. But it’s also important to think about your company’s long-term vision. The best entrepreneurs share two common traits: they have a strong mission and they make communication with their customers easy. When building a startup, it can be easy to get caught up in day-to-day issues. However, if you want to grow your business into something sustainable, you need to take a step back from time to time and look at where you want your business to go. Having a clear mission statement will help guide you through decision making down the road.

What are the best ways to empathize with employees?

A successful leader is not just aware of their own feelings but also makes an effort to understand those around them. A highly empathetic person can put themselves in someone else’s shoes easily. However, to be able to do that at work a person needs to build trust with their executives and their employees. In order for that trust to flourish they need to show vulnerability while keeping in mind how they will be perceived by others if they say something or ask for something. It’s important to realize that empathy isn’t about feeling sorry for people; it is about understanding what they are going through so you can help them improve their situation.

Conclusion

Being a successful CEO is an art form. There are no hard-and-fast rules when it comes to managing other people. However, there are certain traits that separate good CEOs from bad ones. Today we’ve looked at three important ones: transparency, long term vision, and empathy. Are you a good CEO? If so, what sets you apart from others? What do you do to be a better leader? If not, how can you start building those traits into your leadership style?

To continue the discussion, book a call with me here: https://calendly.com/claude-blanc/chemistrycall

Building an Engaging Corporate Culture Starts with Clarifying Your Vision, Values and Mission

How important is it to clarify your vision, values and mission? If you’re struggling to answer that question, consider the fact that Harvard Business Review reports that corporate culture has more impact on revenue and profit than either strategy or structure (Daft, 2007). In other words, if you want to build an engaging corporate culture that drives business success, it’s critical to take the time to clarify your vision, values and mission so that your employees are clear about what your company stands for and how they can help the company achieve its goals.

The need for an engaging corporate culture

In today’s corporate landscape it is extremely important for leaders to create a clear vision for their company. A clear vision guides your employees in making daily decisions that are aligned with your overall goals. An engaging corporate culture can be created through transparent communication of your company’s vision and values at all levels. By doing so, you build a culture in which employees are engaged and motivated by their passion to make positive impacts on your business. Employees who feel valued and appreciated will be more likely to stay longer, work harder and produce better results. To start building an engaging corporate culture: Define your company’s vision, values and mission statement; clearly communicate these statements to every employee; ensure each employee knows how his or her role contributes to achieving these statements; hold regular meetings with employees where they can ask questions about what these statements mean; encourage open dialogue between management and staff members about how best to achieve stated goals; celebrate achievements regularly.

The importance of clarifying vision

When it comes to building a workplace culture, most leaders will tell you that vision is crucial. The problem is that most of us aren’t exactly sure what they mean by vision. That’s because we confuse vision with specific goals or objectives. A vision statement is not something that can be easily quantified. It’s more than just setting goals; it’s about defining your organization’s core values—what makes your company unique and worth investing in? What do you stand for? How do you want people to feel when they interact with your brand? Without these answers, how can you possibly build a strong corporate culture?

What are your shared vision, values and mission?

The most effective way to drive engagement is by creating a corporate culture that is emotionally intelligent. A great first step in developing such a culture is by articulating your vision, values and mission as clearly as possible. For example, if you want employees to be innovative, then make sure you define what innovative means for your organization. If you want employees to be passionate about their work, then make sure you articulate what it means for them to be passionate about their work. If you want employees to have fun at work (and who doesn’t?), then make sure they know how they can have fun at work—and hold them accountable for doing so!

How do we communicate the three things?

When you think about how you are going to communicate your vision, values and mission to your employees it is critical that you start thinking about one thing – Why? If we want employees who care about our company’s vision, values and mission then they have to be able to connect emotionally to them. That means they need to be able clearly understand why these things matter. Without understanding why these three things matter at a personal level we risk creating engagement challenges down line.

The importance of effective communication tools

Ineffective communication often comes down to ineffective technology. If your company is using convoluted software that doesn’t allow for real-time collaboration, it’s a major inhibitor to building stronger bonds in your organization. Start by communicating effectively internally (between employees) before tackling external communication (with clients). Remember: You can only have strong relationships outside of your organization if you have a strong culture inside of it. So don’t be afraid to spend time on internal communications first.

Tips on being emotionally intelligent as a leader

Emotionally intelligent leaders focus on managing their own emotions first before working on managing other people’s. This means making time for introspection, being cognizant of your feelings and reflecting on what you are feeling versus just reacting to whatever is thrown at you. It also means learning how to harness your natural emotions like empathy, confidence and passion so that you can use them as a strength when dealing with other people in professional settings.

The value of having emotional intelligence in everyone else in the company

Emotional intelligence (EI) is a widely used term in management today, but many people are still confused about what it means. In short, emotional intelligence is your ability to understand your own emotions and those of others. High EI allows you to read how others feel through their facial expressions or body language; it also gives you a deeper understanding of group dynamics. By being aware of such things as these, you can more easily build rapport with colleagues on any level of your company.

Focusing on Customer Retention in a Slow Economy

In today’s struggling economy, consumers aren’t the only ones tightening their belts. With shoppers spending less on non-essential items and socking more into savings, businesses across the country are feeling the effects of the widespread penny pinching. The good news? As a business owner, you can do more than just sit by and watch profits dwindle.

Although this may not be the ideal time to acquire new customers, you can help compensate for sagging sales by shifting your focus to customer retention. By catering to your loyal base of existing customers, you can help increase average order size and repeat business, eliminating the need to slash the prices of your product or serving offerings.

Below are some time-tested, cost-effective tips for retaining customers in a recessed economy:

Make strategic use of cross-sells. Offering related products at low to moderate price points is an excellent way to encourage impulse purchases and increase order totals. It also helps to educate the customer on the diversity of your inventory.

Offer a special promotion. In these tight economic times, customers are much more likely to complete the sale if they feel like they’re getting a great value. A VIP customer discount not only boosts revenue, it also makes your loyal patrons feel appreciated, a surefire strategy for ensuring repeat purchases.

Maintain “non-salesy” communications. Even if you’re not offering a discount or promo, staying in contact with customers via newsletters, product tips, and holiday well wishes goes a long way toward instilling a sense of camaraderie and loyalty. Businesses that function as service and solution providers as well as sellers gain more trust and credibility in the eyes of consumers.

Offer relevant tips. Within a few days of your customer’s purchase, send a follow-up email with care and maintenance suggestions for their product. You can also pepper the correspondence with suggestions for related accessories.

Request feedback. Give customers the opportunity to put in their two cents by sending a brief survey, offering a discount or gift certificate to compensate for their time. Not only will you reap the rewards of valuable market knowledge, you can include tasteful up-sells to encourage sales.

Create a community. Provide your loyal customers with an exclusive, members-only forum for sharing product feedback, questions, and suggestions. The interactive dialogue will foster repeat visits, increasing the chances of repeat orders.

Offer prepackaged gift sets. By bundling best-selling items into collections, you can provide customers with an easier shopping experience while boosting average order value.While a struggling economy is never good for business, it does provide a unique opportunity to forge more profitable relationships with existing customers. By showing your appreciation for their loyalty, you could very well earn lifelong customers who will stick with you through thick, thin, and recession.