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Business Leadership

Business world is transforming into competitive and an uncertain where business existence

compete with each other on their foundation distinctive strategies and competence.

Technological advancements and globalization, ardor of competition is changing the way

business are operating and competing in their respective industries. Business leaders play the

huge role by bringing significant transformation to their business landscape. The entrepreneurial

world has identified scant business leaders that can be acknowledged as organizations’

revolutionary because of their innovative performance in their respective fields. When we talk

about success in business leadership, attributes such as integrity, curiosity, vision and

communication cannot go out of style. A business leader is expected to build firm teams at the

expense of retention and recruiting challenges, demonstrating a stalwart business acumen and

keeping up with the modern technology. He is expected to subordinate his attention over the

prosperity and the attention of the business. If you are at the helm of your business, you need to

be equipped with leadership skills for you to be able to navigate in your business environment of

which the research is indicating that it is hectic to do. Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) released a

research showing that business leadership is becoming more challenging than it was six years

ago. Business leaders need to be proficient but also up to date on big-picture results facing their
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businesses. This paper explore on leadership challenges, contributions and styles in the

entrepreneurial market.

Challenges

One of the challenges that Bills Gate faced was to develop managerial effectiveness. He faced

difficulties in in developing pertinent skills like time-management, strategic thinking,

prioritization, decision making and production speed- effectiveness in work.

Young business persons try to make themselves a bit different than their business leaders. They

need to be motivated at a different level than those who are older than them. This hinder leaders

from conveying their visions, experiences, and values in a way that influence the young

employees.

As a business leader, you need to have a broader-ranging knowledge. Sometimes ago, business

executives were operating in silos: They were not concerned in the work of other departments

but remained to be experts of their leadership ground. Currently, business leaders are operating

over a wider business area. The chief financed officer came to realize that his responsibilities

have been protracted past finance to information technology, human resource and operations.

Fostering a firm relationship with workers outside his departmental block had become invaluable

mostly when it came to understanding about other areas of that firm. As a leader, he had to make

sure that he was part of the interdepartmental projects and committee.

Another challenge that the CFO faced was the high artistry demand. He experienced difficulties

in recruiting and retaining top performers in that film. In addition to that, he had to frequently

superintend staffs various locations. This hindered his work of motivating the employee of that

film. He had to explain to every employee their career path and their role in the mission of that
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film. He had to support his employees in preparing for their greater responsibilities as well as

building their working skills. As a savvy leader, he had to seek feedbacks on the style of

communications from his mentors and his staff and follow the best suggestion. This was a bit

difficult to because it needed a lot of time.

Another challenge he faced was the information overload. Since he had the access to all-

encompassing database which was replenished with information that greatly enhanced his

decision making, the amount of information he was supplied with on daily basis was

overwhelming and therefore he had to seek for guidance on how to select the most precious

information and transmute it into a strategic guidance.

Another challenged he was experiencing was the technological change. In the past, leaders

understood the basics of the business models of their competitors because most of them operated

almost in a similar way. Currently businesses are introducing other new models at all time, and

the technology is changing after every single minute. He faced new pressure at every single day

due the constantly change in technology and therefore he had to invest a lot of effort and time in

learning the new technology.

He also faced difficulties in leading his team. He experienced a lot of challenges when trying to

build, develop and manage his team especially when trying to instill pride in them, providing

them with necessary support, managing a big team, and taking over a new team.

He had struggled in his leadership for long. He was historically letting bad behaviors

underperformance go almost for all the time, this led to a snap and a breaking point. He was a

type of a leader who tried to know the reason behind every decision and behavior. When trying
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to listen and understand the entire story, he often inadvertently found himself making excuses for

his employees. This resulted to low performers tarrying far longer than they were supposed to.

It was hard for him to accept the loneliness in his leadership. He wanted to be a friend to his

subordinates and this made it hard for him to be more firm when exerting expectations. He didn’t

know that his subordinates needed a leader not a friend. They needed someone to mold them,

push them, and help them to grow in entrepreneurial field. He was driven greatly by a desire to

be their friends rather than being their manager. He never knew that a good leader have to

distance himself with his team members. Creating a friendship boundary with your team

members nurture a good environment of high performers.

The last but not the least challenge that surrounded him was delicate balance exercise. It is

important to be a genuine, invested and friendly leader. Jack Welch said, “Leadership is about

knowing when to kick and when to hug.” As a leader, there are three priorities that should lead

you. The first one creating the value for your shareholders and running a beneficial business.

Secondly, is helping your subordinates grow personally as well as professionally. Lastly is

fostering a culture that everyone enjoys. To be able to balance these three priorities, you have to

push yourself out of your comfort zone and be a firm and a confident leader. You need to be

consistent, you hug when necessary and also give a swift kick so that employees can stick to

their lanes. As a business leader, you have to ensure that your team remains strong at the expense

of retention and recruiting challenges, demonstrate firm business acumen and be up to date with

technology.

Roles of a business leader

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Setting goals. To ensure that his business remained on track, he established the timeliness and

the deadlines to ensure that together with his teamwork remained on truck. One of the best

approaches that he applied when setting up his goals was the SMART approach. That is;

 Specific-He wrote down a short and detailed description of what was to be involved in

the goal accomplishment.

 Measurable-He set the targets which he knew he will manage to assess the progress.

 Attainable-Setting goals is important but he also made sure that the goals he was setting

are achievable.

 Realistic-He ensured that he understood the requirements in terms of resources, talent and

time to achieve those goals.

 Timed- He created a deadline of achieving his goals.

His second role was delegating. He knew that for his business to be productive, he had to

empower his team members to take more responsibilities and ownership. To ensure that his

delegation was to be effective, he identified a cycle of steps to guide him.

 Understanding his preferences-This was to help him to decide which task to give, which

was to be allocated to someone else and which was to be kept. In this step, he also had to

understand the amount of feedback he expected from those he had delegated the task to.

 Knowing his people-For him to delegate effectively, he must have assigned to individuals

that matched their skills and knowledge. This meant that he had to understand his team

members.

 Clarity on the aim of the task-By aligning the task purpose with individuals and his team

beliefs and goals, delegation was to promote personal growth.

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 Evaluating and rewarding-He was to work with his direct reports so as to decide whether

a task has properly been done and completed and so as to remunerate them appropriately.

His third role in trying to minimize or do away with business challenges was to maximize his

unique value. He was supposed to put more focus on the most important undertaking. There were

many activities that were competing for his attention and therefore he decided to prioritize on the

most important activities and delegated the rest. He decided to focus contributions that he he

could only manage to make. This was to play a huge role in maximizing the value of his

business.

Role clarity. Taking additional responsibilities and duties was important due to may be need for

his own professional progress or unusual circumstances. As an effective leader he understood

that he would be judged on the effectiveness of his core responsibilities.

Leadership techniques

 Define a clear picture of your business’ future. An old expression says that, “if you don’t

know where you are going, any road will get you there.” A journey with no clear

destination leaves people lost and desperate. As a leader, you need to create your team

vision and a spirit to keep moving. This will give hope to your team members.

 Embrace commitment. As a leader of a best-performing team, you should find ways of

building and maintaining trust. You should be able distinguish and differentiate blind

loyalty and professional trust.

 Give others freedom to express themselves. This can pray a big part in avoiding internal

business conflicts. As a leader you should practice this by treating your team members

equal without favoring some and discriminating others. Pay attention to their voices and
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listen to their cries. Stop and condemn those conversations that can give rise to conflicts

in your business.

 Deal accordingly to non-performing members. As a leader, you should not tolerate non-

performing members and those individuals who try to who try to pull the team apart.

Maintain discipline and unity in your team. Surround yourself with “passionate

champions” who are committed and focused on the business objectives.

 Promote confidence in your team. Be a straight shooter that is be a person who fight fair,

play hard and never give up. This will also create confidence in your team

Much is expected from business leader. This are the people that ensures that the economy runs

smoothly and therefore the need to employ a lot of seriousness in their professions. They need to

employ effective skills not only to ensure that their businesses remain in the competitive market

but also to ensure that the economy remain stable. They need to remain creative and innovative

and be driven to success.

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Works cited

Rosenbach, William E. Contemporary issues in leadership. Routledge, 2018.

Hooper, Alan, and John Potter. The business of leadership: Adding lasting value to your

organization. Routledge, 2019.

Koo, Haeyoung, and Choelsoon Park. "Foundation of leadership in Asia: Leader characteristics

and leadership styles review and research agenda." Asia Pacific Journal of Management (2018):

1-22.

Long, Jamey M. Management and leadership skills that affect small business survival: A

resource guide for small businesses everywhere. Anthem Press, 2019.

Sousa, Maria José, and Álvaro Rocha. "Skills for disruptive digital business." Journal of

Business Research 94 (2019): 257-263.

Cardona, Pablo, Carlos Rey, and Nick Craig. "Purpose-driven Leadership." Purpose-driven

Organizations. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 2019. 57-71.

Northouse, Peter G. Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications, 2018.

Foss, Nicolai J., and Tina Saebi. "Business models and business model innovation: Between

wicked and paradigmatic problems." Long Range Planning 51.1 (2018): 9-21.

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Hooper, Alan, and John Potter. The business of leadership: Adding lasting value to your

organization. Routledge, 2019.

Broekhuizen, Thijs LJ, Tom Bakker, and Theo JBM Postma. "Implementing new business

models: What challenges lie ahead?." Business Horizons 61.4 (2018): 555-566.