New Years Resolutions for Leaders

It’s January and it is the time of New Year resolutions – OK actually it is already 6th January and if you are anything like the average then the resolutions you made on 1st January are probably already ancient history!  But it’s close enough to the beginning of the year to start again and here are a couple of suggestions for anyone who sees themself, or wants to be, a business leader.

1. Get a mentor.  I don’t necessarily mean paying a professional mentor – it could be anyone who you respect and who you can talk to about your career and business matters throughout the year.  Someone who is probably sufficiently detached from your day to day work to be able to see the wood from the trees.  Someone who you can trust and have some “chemistry” with.  Someone who will at least occasionally challenge you and your ideas.
2. Ask more questions than you answer.  The rate of change in the business world is increasing all of the time.  Nobody knows all of the answers, not even you.  You will get to higher quality “answers” if you ask probing questions, of yourself and those around you.  OK if you are a time served manager in an industry that is static then maybe you do know the answers – but how many of us does that apply to?  Asking questions doesn’t need to lead to lack of decision making but if it is an important question then it probably deserves rather more than a “stock, shooting from the hip” answer.  Ask some quick probing questions.  as ever the Pareto principle applies.  Do at least the 20% of research that will get you to the 80% answer.

Happy New Year.