If you’re aspiring to become a leader in business, you may well be asking yourself, what are the steps you’ll need to take on the road to success?
By completing a business qualification, learning essential leadership skills, and committing to your personal and professional development, you can be well on your way to a successful career as a business leader.
Let us take you through it.
Step 1: Complete a Tertiary Qualification in Business
The first step to business leadership success? Completing a relevant qualification in the field – such as an MBA, for example. But what is an MBA, and how does it help qualify you to become a leader in business? Known as a Master of Business Administration, this type of degree can help equip future business leaders with the skills they need to succeed.
However, completing a qualification like an MBA won’t just arm you with the business acumen you need to become a successful leader. Being a tertiary student will also teach you essential life skills, such as;
Prioritising Important Tasks
As a student, you’ll have a huge array of assignments to complete within predetermined timelines. To stay on top of your study workload, you’ll need to master the art of task prioritisation – a life skill that will take you far on your journey to business leadership.
Managing Your Time
Juggling your many commitments as a student will also teach you how to manage your time. You may even pick up some time-saving productivity hacks to support you in your studies and later life.
Learning How to Back Yourself
Perhaps the most important skill a tertiary student can learn? The ability to support their arguments. By learning how to back your points up with research and evidence and present rational, convincing perspectives, you’ll master the art of influence, persuasion and negotiation.
Step 2: Develop Your Leadership Skills
If you’re aspiring to become a successful leader, you must actively work at developing your leadership skills. Some of the most essential qualities of successful leaders include:
Integrity, Honesty and Transparency
To succeed as a leader, you must act with integrity. This means utilising open, honest, and transparent communication when interacting with others and ensuring that your decisions consider the needs of all parties affected. Being decisive is not enough. When making and acting on their decisions, leaders must gain the trust of others by keeping the best interests of all those involved at heart.
Resilience, Courage and Drive
On the road to leadership success, you’ll no doubt come across many obstacles. In Australia, tall poppy syndrome can stunt an up-and-coming leader’s growth – especially if they let external perceptions of their success get to them. This is where resilience, courage and drive come in. By staying committed to the cause, no matter the challenges thrown their way, successful leaders can rise above the noise, aim high, and achieve their goals.
Self Awareness and Reflection
Finally, successful leaders must be self-aware. The power of reflection and self-awareness is highly advantageous. Evaluating and assessing our past actions and their impact on our success to date can help dictate our future decisions and impact the ongoing progress of our career trajectory. This, of course, requires a leader to be humble, and also to be able to take constructive criticism – both from themselves and from others.
Step 3: Commit to Continual Learning and Development
As a leader, your goal should be to never stop learning. You can never know it all, and successful leaders need to be humble enough to realise this.
One element of this type of growth is to dedicate oneself to the development of a personal brand. This involves creating what is known as an ‘elevator pitch’ – a personal summary that describes what makes you unique and highlights your achievements, as well as what you bring to the table.
The key to personal branding? Staying consistent with your brand, and continually working on cultivating and perfecting it throughout your career. By committing to this type of continual learning and development, aspiring business leaders can perform as their best selves – both personally and professionally.