Confidence Building In Others Through Leadership Styles

What do you understand by Leadership Styles? How does confidence building affect your leadership skills? To understand different leadership styles, one must first understand who is a leader. Leader is a person whose sole agenda is confidence building in his colleagues, who takes along his people and guides them through the path of personal development. He is a person with great management skills who help others in their goal setting. In addition to these core leadership skills, he has exuberant communication skills, great decision making and time management skills. Main thing is confidence building in your people, if you are able to achieve it, you are just empowering them to take decisions on their own. A leader may do all this, by using different Leadership Styles- which have been discussed in details below.

Operative Kind Of Leadership And Confidence Building Approach

This type of a leader have a different approach towards confidence building in their groups i.e. they excel in one area or function such as sales, marketing, online marketing, technology, product development etc. They develop thorough knowledge about the subject and become experts in it, the area they have opted for themselves. They give respect to details and intensely focused and competent in their area of business or technical expertise. They generally know everything about it, somewhat being close to being “subject matter experts”. They do not believe in risk taking and their every action is well planned and every move they make is well calculated. When they decide on a certain action they stick to what they know best. They rarely see outside their interest zone and they end up seeing things what they want to see. They develop an auto pilot mode and tend to see limited portion of the whole spectrum. Their emphasis as leader is on majorly two things execution excellence and the other strong and concrete expertise. Tim Cook, who is now the CEO of Apple, is the true representation of this kind of leadership style known for his rock solid operational efficiency, who was initially appointed by Steve Jobs as the supply chain head for Apple. In this whole act of confidence building, he was responsible to get every inch of cost out the system and make it extremely efficient.

Pragmatic Leadership Style And Confidence Building Approach

This type of leader is a big thinker and a visionary with great confidence building skills. They are not intimidated by risk and enjoy working in uncertainty, so to say, nothing weighs them down. They always play their game in the danger zone, the zone which is litter with explosive minefields. They give ever – increasing importance to broad and elastic thinking. They are high on self-confidence. Their characteristics drive intensity, vision, risk taking. They are intensely competitive personalities and have a tendency to take decisive actions which comes naturally with a competitive temperament. Steve Jobs, whom I greatly admire, had a flair for this kind of leadership. He was flamboyant and dynamic with a visionary perspective and strategic approach. He had a feel good perspective. He took Apple to the most valuable company in the world. He constantly looked for new innovative markets for his Apple product line. He was always in media and had larger than life personality. His life can be used to chart out a learning plan for yourself. On the top of it, he was great in public speaking which always left his audience mesmerizing.

Comparison Of Leadership Styles And Confidence Building Approaches
While we have looked at both the primary leadership and confidence building styles, I personally feel that Tim Cook has become richer and more experienced person exhibiting traits of both styles of leadership. He has unleashed his potential while truncating all his inhibitions. His actions are more balanced and wiser than what Steve took. Fame and popularity has not blunted his talent and humbleness and in as sense it is truly important and appreciable. I hope his journey under new leadership role driven by balanced and wiser style of leadership will take him many a places.

Both leadership styles represent different productive capabilities, style of working, handling situations, energies, kind of opinion and intelligence. The things which are visible and exhilarating and adventurous to leader Y is in most cases not at all visible to operative leader. In some cases, the leader X even do not even show respect to the actions of leader Y. The vice versa is also true. Infact, most decisions of each style are contrary to each other.

They all stick to their core and inherent strengths

Pragmatic leader would spend more time with investors, focusing on revenue and top – line growth and reaching out to new companies for strategic tie–ups. Whereas leader’s focus is inward, spending time with employees, product developers, and how to effectively cost down costs with aim to improve bottom –line. The truth of the matter is that both the kind of leaders have one thing in common; it is tendency to do things which matches their strength. They all stick to their core and inherent strengths. They frame their expertise and skills based on the perceived strength and temperament they think possess.

So to speak, Each of us, when born, are without any style, but eventually we lean towards a certain style over a period of time mostly due to influence of external conditioning as well our inner impulses and biases. Equally important, we create our own filters and knowingly, unknowingly colour our perspectives. This skewed perspective influences where we focus our development effort and thus be become where we put our efforts.

World Moving To A Philanthropic Style Of Leadership And Confidence Building
Off late many leaders are deliberately and consciously are getting detached from both the above rule of leadership and confidence building. They are discovering a larger sense of purpose in their operating style. They are moving beyond the starry corporate role and seemingly, using their smart, intellect and wealth to contribute to the common good. They make you feel better and their motivational words help you build self confidence and self esteem.

To sum up, they have started seeing the world differently. They have shifted their focus and broadened their perspective while shifting their approach from creating wealth for their business empire to actively solving problem facing communities both at local and global level.

Bill Gates is one of many leaders who have chosen this path. Bill Gates along with his wife Melinda established the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation. He is playing an active role in it while remaining the non executive chairman of Microsoft. This foundation has awarded whopping millions of dollars to scientific research driven organizations, charitable organization across the globe, global institutes who particularly focus on developing effective solutions to combat life consuming diseases. This initiative has given Brand bill gates and Microsoft a great facelift, winning hearts and mind of people across the globe.

This new style of beneficial and authentic leadership believes in zero-sum mindset, shared values, ethics and serving a larger purpose. It is all about taking advantage of the skills and expertise they proudly posses to service greater good through reflection and introspection.

Concluding Tips: – Reader, I have given you much to chew on, do look for patterns and behavior which matches your own style of leadership? Develop a positive thinking. It’s time to awaken the sleeping leader in you and spread the light of your confidence building skills in the world around you.

By Tarun Gupta

Enthusiasm – An Essential Attribute for Sales and Marketing

Although there is no job in this world which can be performed well without being enthusiastic about it, but there is one task where success is totally driven by the “Enthusiasm” and that is – “Sales and Marketing”. At one point in time or the other, each one of us is touched by what’s known by “Sales & Marketing”. By Sales and Marketing, I am not only talking from a business perspective but also from an individual’s point of a view. Employee’s enthusiasm towards the job would not only be helpful for a company but also, for any individual who needs to sell out his ideas, marketing ideas, his thoughts – be it for any reason or purpose. Let’s understand this by taking examples from different walks of life.

“Leaders” – How Are They Contribute In “Sales and Marketing”

Let’s take an example of our great historical leaders. You will find those leaders full of enthusiasm. You will never ever met or read about a leader who lacks enthusiasm or inspiration. I personally believe that, this is the most important aspect of a good leader. It is a must and the most desired quality for a leader in order to sell or market his ideas to others. If you are yourself not motivated and inspired, then how would you inspire and motivate others, be it a case of a motivational leader or that of a business leader. So, you see how enthusiasm has played an important role in Sales & Marketing aspect of a Leader.

Sales And Marketing Aspect of A “Teacher’s Life”

Every teacher in his daily life not only preaches or teaches his disciples but also play a very important role of a “Sales Man”. You would wonder how? He does this by selling his thoughts to his students. That’s why it’s said, to imbibe good ideas and good thoughts; you should study from a good teacher, who can teach you good things, in a way who sells his thought process and his good attributes. Enthusiasm, as you all know plays a key role in this. No student would be willing to learn from a teacher who is not enthusiastic about his/her content irrespective of how good or knowledgeable the teacher is.

“A Sales Person & A Marketer” – Doing Sales & Marketing Through Enthusiasm

For them, who are doing sales and marketing for their companies, be it a product or a service oriented job, what becomes a key differentiator in your learning and outcomes, is completely dependent on how much “Enthusiasm” do you carry for that job. None of them will be able to win their customer’s or client’s heart if their way of working lacks this. Enthusiasm will lead you to a platform of opportunities by helping you build strong relationships with your customers. For e.g. being an advertising agency, your success surely depends on factors like, how you plan your marketing strategies, what technology would you use in your marketing tactics, how well do you research on business areas and marketing plans, what and how do you come out with the right content partner, your advertising strategies, but one and the foremost thing that will win you your client’s trust would be the sincerity and enthusiasm that an advertiser would have for his customer. Precisely, enthusiasm will always drive your success with quality results at the end of the day be it a case of a business development where you target a new client or a case of a customer service where we focus on client retention.

Tips To Enhance Your Sales & Marketing Skills

Now that you have realized how important is enthusiasm in Sales & Marketing aspect of different walks of Life. So, let’s move on and see how to inculcate it in oneself. Always try to build an atmosphere of energy and enthusiasm around you. Remember, you will be enthusiastic in things that you do only by being wholehearted in what you are doing. Always do things with complete passion, full vigor and all possible efforts. Give undivided attention to the task at hand. Be undivided to your aim, goal, purpose and the path opted. Single minded devotion is required to achieve success in whatever task you are doing.

Your enthusiasm will suffer and thus diminish if you are in two minds about the task you have undertaken. If there is a gap between what have you planned and what currently you are pursuing, then it can lead to a feeling of confusion and thus can be dangerous for you.

Sales & Marketing – With & Without “Enthusiasm”

As Confucius quoted “A man of benevolence never worries: a man with wisdom never gets confused and is never in 2 minds and man with courage and grit is never scared or afraid”. Many people lose their inspiration, motivation and also enthusiasm during the journey towards their vision if it is too long or arduous. Many of them just simply give up. They lose their spirits along the way and shed away. But the people who are equipped withsales and marketing skills and are enthusiastic, are actually the ones who never ever give up. They are able to remain in the game till the end. Their enthusiasm towards the job never gets affected and efforts never get slackened, whatsoever demanding and tough the job may be.

Most of the times it is the relentless enthusiasm, confidence building and inspiration showcased by an individual, which leads him to be seen as a future leader and not just an ordinary sales and marketing person. These individuals do not get bogged down by even by repeated failures and knock downs. Infact these individuals encourage others in their team to perform better during tough times and always experience success in their lives.

Inevitability of Enthusiasm In “Sales And Marketing”

So plan it for yourself and make a right choice. It is very much possible to be as enthusiastic in the first hour as well the hour before you leave the office. It is very much possible to be equally enthusiastic at the beginning as well as the end of your career.

Sense of purpose is not only the main ingredient to generate enthusiasm. Yes, no doubt, it is very important, but it is not the only thing required. If one gets a sense of joy, happiness, hopefulness and satisfaction in the job, then he or she is sure to succeed in their lives – be it a career in sales and marketing or anywhere else in any industry. “If the man is eager and willing, the gods will join in” as said by famous dramatist Aeschylus.

By Tarun Gupta