One of the top local business leaders, chairman Akira Matsumoto of Calbee, recently shared with me his secret recipe for success when it comes to leadership. It’s about creating a company that is both tough and warm. Now being tough means looking at the financial performance—both the objective numbers as well as the subjective numbers--on a regular basis. But it’s about creating a warm company that we’ll focus on in this week’s Fearless in 5 so you can understand the five steps that you can take to become a fearless leader.
Step #1 Diversity. In fact, having a diverse organization is his #1 priority. From his perspective, not leveraging the women in your organization is akin to choosing to either fly a plane with only one engine or play a round of golf with only one hand. You need both men and women to truly achieve success.
Step #2 Leadership development. Focus on career growth with your teams so that they know exactly what they need to do to get there.
Step #3: Provide richness in the work/life balance. When you’re outside of the office you should be spending time with the people you love doing things that matter in life.
Step #4: Public recognition and appreciation. First off, everybody needs and responds to kind words. But when it comes to recognizing your superstar employees, it’s critical that you do it in front of everyone. Your stars should feel like stars.
#5: Your team should be excited to come to work. This is where they’re spending most of their waking hours so they should be passionate and excited about what they’re doing and have fun in the process.
Do you have a secret recipe or some ingredients that you can share on what it takes to become a fearless leader? If so please share it in the comments below. And to learn more visit Wet Cement at wet-cement.com.