A business will rise no higher than the level of its leadership.
Executive recruiters and commercial lenders agree that it takes a different kind of leader to run a $20 million company that it does to run a $2 million company. The same can be said about running $100 million and $1 billion companies. What makes the difference? What qualities does a $100 million dollar leader possess that a $10 million dollar leader lacks? Is it education? Technical expertise? Charisma? Political cunning?
The crux of the question lies in the word leader. Let’s define leadership as: getting results through others and apply this concept to your organization.
- Have you been wanting to grow revenues to the next level yet never ma
nage to make it happen? - Have you reached a plateau in either market share or revenue?
- Did you experience a sales spike only to fall back to your previous level?
- Do you have a strategy to grow to X level and then stop as additional business is foreseen as unmanageable?
nage to make it happen?
Which Needs to Grow First, the Business or the Leadership?
It’s a chicken and egg relationship. Executive recruiters and commercial lenders know that leadership is the egg while business growth is the chicken. Leadership growth drives and sustains business growth.
The skills and behaviors required for getting sustained results through others are not something we’re born with. They can be developed. Leaders who continuously grow provide the fuel for continuous growth of their organizations.
When I hear a business owner say we just can’t seem to get the next level, I see an executive who has stopped improving the behaviors, attitudes and skills needed for getting sustained results through others.
Have you encountered a revenue plateau? Is it possible your organization’s leadership has plateau-ed?