The title says it all. I am not Steve Jobs. Or Elon Musk, or Oprah.
Do I want to be? Well, no!
Because we simply have different backgrounds, different needs, different lenses on how we see the world.
Is it wrong that I want to be me? I believe not.
Obviously, there is nothing wrong to get inspiration from the people you admire. And I admire all 3 of them. The stamina, the vigor, the vision, the empathy they show(ed).
But I still want to be me. I want to work on myself and build a path on my own. Small or big it doesn't matter as long as it makes me happy. As long as it makes sense for me.
We may have all heard that in order to become a successful business leader, you need to have decisiveness, integrity, and knowledge. But when I first started as an entrepreneur, I realized that there are some characteristics that I could never imagine were needed...
Starting off with creativity and imagination. The ability to come up with new and innovative ideas that move your business forward is what makes leaders stay around for the long run. That I knew. But I couldn't imagine that creativity was needed in order to make it through the unexpected. We really need to have a pair of fresh eyes and think out of the box in many cases but mostly during unexpected situations. Because oftentimes, it's not a straight line and what's required is not "more hard work," but a different approach altogether.
So, start trusting your instincts and think beyond the rules.
Of course, one of the most important characteristics of a business leader is self-awareness, and the ability to understand and trust your own strengths and weaknesses.
Very often we make the mistake to go to extreme lengths just to cover our own weaknesses, in times when we clearly need to leave our ego aside and trust our partners to do the things that we can't. Self-awareness does not show a vulnerable leader.
On the contrary, it is our strength.
Last but definitely not least, the blink-blink of a leader is their enthusiasm. When you seem enthusiastic and excited about what you do, people around you will feel the same way. After all, you know what they say, positive thinking leads to positive results.
Part of being a leader is learning to be alright.
You won't have all the answers.
You won't always have rainbows.
You won't know your next move.
You can't always win and you will sometimes lose and fail.
But through it all, you must be confident. You have to always believe in yourself, and your ability to see things through to the end.
Because that is what makes us successful.
