Leadership―at every level―is the most important factor in whether a team succeeds or fails.
Jocko Willink and Leif Babin, authors/former Navy SEALS

We’ve talked quite a bit about vision, communication, development, passion, collaboration, being a continual learner, and leveraging the strengths of others in order to achieve success and be an effective and influential leader.

Ten highly successful entrepreneurs (and leaders) shared what they viewed as best practices for successfully leading teams and we’re happy to share that many overlap with our beliefs (their findings were published in Success magazine “The Oracles” April 20, 2017).

Below are excerpts for what they feel is required for masterful leadership:

1. Stay true to your vision – an outstanding leader balances two opposing skills: external sensing and internal conviction. –Irene Chang Britt, former president of Pepperidge Farm and board director of Dunkin’ Brands

2. Communicate clearly and often – leaders communicate the organization’s mission and big ideas to their teams and clear roadblocks so their team can execute.– Spencer Rascoff, CEO of Zillow

3. Make yourself, and those around you, better – I’ve made it my mission to support, encourage and create opportunities for my team to achieve what they want.–Tom Ferry, founder and CEO of Tom Ferry International

4. Practice humility –  Humility has charisma.  Arrogance can be repulsive. Be boldly humble.– Mike Zeller, founder of Elevate United Elevate United

5. Check your ego at the door – A willingness to hire people better than you makes for a great leader.– Joe Kakaty, co-founder and president of Poker Cen Poker Cen

6. Supplement your shortcomings – I attract, recruit, nurture and care for the people I hire to run my companies.–John Hanna, author of Way of the Wealthy and CEO of Fairchild Group

7. Keep your people passionate – Passion is a hallmark quality of a masterful leader. It is to focus on activating the hearts of their people.– Allison Dunn, president and CEO of Deliberate Directions and executive business coach

8. Always learn, and ditch stubbornness – I’ll never finish learning or perfecting. No other qualities emulate the impact of constant growth, learning and facing your fears.– Jay Georgi, founder of Nadvia

9. Harness your team members’ strengths – I observe individual abilities and efficiently coordinate my team through knowing everyone’s strengths and weaknesses. I don’t place people in positions to fail. I put them in positions to succeed and achieve more than they thought possible. –Jim Mathers, CEO of North American Energy Advisory, Inc

10. Get everyone on the same page – Creating awareness up the chain of command overcomes the all-too-common culture of reactive, anti-change management and enables you to focus on executing the mission.–Craig Lack, CEO of ENERGI and creator of Performance-Based Health Plans

Which of these best practices are part of your leadership skill-set? Do you apply them daily? Are there any you need to further develop?

THIS WEEK’S QWIKTIP!

Click to read about  5 Common Leadership Mistakes