{"id":1799,"date":"2010-04-27T09:25:54","date_gmt":"2010-04-27T07:25:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tsirigosorbit.com\/blog\/?p=1799"},"modified":"2010-04-27T06:38:41","modified_gmt":"2010-04-27T04:38:41","slug":"7-tips-for-millennial-leaders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.tsirigosorbit.com\/blog\/?p=1799","title":{"rendered":"7 Tips for Millennial Leaders"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"businessCongratulations! At a younger age than most, you’ve taken the leap into entrepreneurship and started your own business. I started my first company (an advertising agency) when I was 25 years old and have been on my entrepreneurial path for 20 years. So I truly respect your drive and ambition.<\/p>\n

But if you’re like many of the young entrepreneurs<\/span><\/span><\/a> who hire me as their business coach, you may be struggling with managing and leading your employees.<\/p>\n

Many business writers and motivational speakers have codified the attributes they believe are essential for leaders. Frequently, however, their descriptions focus on traits that make a leader personable, affable and well-liked. It’s nice to be liked, but leadership is not (just) a popularity contest. As a young leader, you’ll have to make decisions that won’t make everyone happy. And that’s OK. As long as your employees respect you, the ones who were not happy with your decision typically will get over it.<\/p>\n

Almost everyone can describe the characteristics of an exceptional leader. Their descriptions may be based on a single great boss they had or on a collage of desirable features they recognized among several leaders, but most people seem to have some idea of what’s essential. However, whatever else might be true about the role, you’re not a good leader unless you have followers who respect–rather than fear–you.<\/p>\n

In my book, Millennials Into Leadership<\/a><\/em>, I discuss more than 100 tips and strategies to help Millennials become effective leaders. Here I’ll share seven attributes of respected leaders to help you on your journey to becoming one. They are reflections of character and personal integrity. And they must be developed through self-discipline, time and desire; they are not inherited and cannot be faked successfully . . . at least, not for long.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Sets high standards.<\/strong> Leaders set high standards for their \tfollowers–and for themselves. Successful leaders are consistent in \tdemanding compliance with the standards they espouse. Those who do not are \tonly fooling themselves.<\/li>\n
  2. Lives up to those standards.<\/strong> Leaders live up to the standards \tthey’ve set. Nothing disqualifies a would-be leader faster than a double \tstandard, one for them and another for those under their authority. \tSubordinates will quickly see through the duplicity, and loyalty will \trapidly be replaced by disgust, grudging obedience and resignation letters.<\/li>\n
  3. Mentors those who follow.<\/strong> We all need guidance. However, many \tmediocre leaders expect their followers to attain the standards set by their \tleadership without being taught how. Effective leaders, on the other hand, \tinvest themselves in their followers. They make a concerted effort to \tcommunicate verbally not only what is expected but how to achieve it.<\/li>\n
  4. Creates and shares a vision.<\/strong> Effective leaders are driven by a \tsingular vision, not of what is, but of what will be. And they make sure \tthat everyone around them understands and buys into that vision of where the \torganization is going and what is necessary to attain that goal. A \tsplintered vision, or one that is implemented in a fragmented manner, will \talways result in competing interests within the organization, people vying \tfor resources and each person thinking his or her particular function and \tsphere of effort is most important. This is when employee morale takes a \tplunge.<\/li>\n
  5. Makes the hard choices when necessary.<\/strong> Effective leaders are \tcharacterized by a willingness to make hard decisions–sometimes under \textreme pressure. In the face of crisis, it is human nature to stall and try \tto keep all options open. True leaders don’t stall. They assess and execute. \tThey know that stalling, or going into a state of denial, just makes things \tworse.<\/li>\n
  6. Is visible.<\/strong> Do your customers and staff have a clear and constant \tsense that you are really in charge? Respect is a key component of trust. And trust, in turn, is essential for creating followers. To command respect, \tleaders must be highly visible. I know many business owners, of all ages, \twho stay hidden in their office, rarely meeting with employees<\/span><\/span><\/a>, avoiding \tcustomers–in fact, avoiding anything that remotely looks like a leadership \tquality. Don’t let that be you.<\/li>\n
  7. Instills hope in those who follow.<\/strong> The final attribute of \tsuccessful leaders is their ability to instill hope. None of us can continue \tto grow, develop and perform at our highest potential without hope. Hope for \tsuccess, hope for recognition and reward, and–most important–hope that \tindeed we can make a difference in the long-term outcome. Hope supplies the \tessential fuel that enables the human spirit to continue moving forward, \tespecially in the face of adversity. Be a young leader who instills hope in \tyour team, as a group and as individuals, and you can build a loyal \tfollowing.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Two thoughts to sum up. One is a quote that’s been around forever: “People don’t leave companies, they leave managers.” Don’t be a boss whom people want to leave. Second, traditional management and leadership styles have created a work force where 60 percent of employees are dissatisfied and disengaged.<\/p>\n

    I challenge you, savvy Millennial entrepreneur, to bring in a new era of leadership that reduces that statistic.<\/p>\n

    Source: FoxBusiness.com<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Congratulations! At a younger age than most, you’ve taken the leap into entrepreneurship and started your own business. I started my first company (an advertising agency) when I was 25 years old and have been on my entrepreneurial path for 20 years. So I truly respect your drive and ambition. But if you’re like many […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[236,196,331,330],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.tsirigosorbit.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1799"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.tsirigosorbit.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.tsirigosorbit.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.tsirigosorbit.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.tsirigosorbit.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1799"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/www.tsirigosorbit.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1799\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1809,"href":"http:\/\/www.tsirigosorbit.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1799\/revisions\/1809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.tsirigosorbit.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.tsirigosorbit.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.tsirigosorbit.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}