I was recently asked by one of our clients, who are all professional Financial Advisors, for a working definition of “leadership” and “how do I know if I’m a good leader?” My response is always the same to this, “you know you’re a good leader when you look over your shoulder and people are following you.” So if you’re currently in a leadership role of any type, how do you respond to that?” For the people you are leading, how many of them actively look to you for guidance? Come to you for advice? But mainly, how many of them are following your lead? How many rely on you to make sure they’re “On-Track” to the vision? How many check-in with you regularly to ensure they’re on the right track? This issue of skilled leadership comes up constantly for us since I help Financial Advisors who are running a Financial Advisory business. This always involves helping them build and lead a great team. The bottom-line is what good is a team without skilled leadership? For Financial Advisory businesses, the common denominator among the most successful ones is extraordinary leadership. So what’s the contrast? You know you’re not a good leader if nobody is following you. If those you’re attempting to lead do their own thing by ignoring you and your advice. How many seldom if ever even approach you for advice? How many are off-track, in your view, and have not come to you to acknowledge it or fix it? How many actually avoid you or prefer to do things their own way, without feedback from you? How many could articulate the vision you shared with them, and could explain it well to others? There’s so much to good leadership, but this spot-check is the best first step. If your role is to lead, then candidly assess whether or not its working, as measured by the quantity of those following you, and the quality of the alignment between their actions and the objectives you’ve shared with them.
The Second Job of a Leader

About Mark McKenna Little
Mark Little is the ‘regular guy’ Financial Advisor whose unconventional approach to financial services acquired 1,242 clients.
Then in just 34 months he rebuilt his business from the ground up, shattering international records and boosting revenue by 412%
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