I won’t go so far as to term it arrogance, but I sure did have an overdose of confidence to go with my new role as a leader, and this overconfidence often led me to believe that as a leader, my ideas had to be the best. Soon enough, I was stripped of all these wrong notions, but in a good way. The more I interacted with my team members, the more I realized that as a leader, it wasn’t my job to thrust my ideas on everyone but to listen to everyone’s opinions and inputs to single out the best ideas. These ideas may not always be mine, but at the end of the day, they sure worked way better, and that’s all that matters. Today, as a successful serial entrepreneur, I thrive on the innovative ideas of others.
When I look back on my first few months as a founder, I cringe. Whether it was my contractors or my clients, I always felt the pressure to have the right answer and to be 100% prepared for anything and everything. That kind of thinking led to me burning myself out by trying to predict and prepare for things that I had no control over. Or worse, didn't even end up being all that important. Time is one of your most crucial assets as a leader. You need time and space to be able to plan effectively and steer the ship. These days, I lean in to moments when I don't have the right answer. I'm honest and transparent about it. I ask more questions and give more responsibility to employees to help me make the big decisions. I'm more collaborative and delegate more readily. This shift in thinking hasn't solved all my problems, but it has made my day to day life a heck of a lot less stressful.
The biggest thing I learned, that I didn’t realize early on in my career, is how much I would grow, both personally and professionally, from all of the different people and personalities I would encounter. There is so much good that comes from higher education, but there is still nothing quite like the hands-on learning, especially in regards to human interaction and relationships, that comes from time and experience with others. And the beautiful part is that I, and we, can continue to open our minds to learn from others throughout the course of our lives…the learning never ends.
One thing I had to learn the long and hard way is that being a leader means having to make decisions that not everyone will like. Leaders must know how to prioritize the company’s best interest even if it means not being able to please everyone. The goal is not to make the most popular decisions, but the ones that will move the team and company forward. It requires a level of discernment for leaders to conduct due diligence, consult the team, and assess the whole picture before making a judgment call.
Take the time to learn what motivates your team. Every individual is different, and many of your employees will be driven by different considerations. As a leader, your job isn't just to tell people what to do. You also should be a source of support. For many who are in their first leadership role, there's a sense of pressure to be performing and to ensure that their reports are, as well. But the best way to do this is to take an interest in your employees and hear from them directly. This will help your approach and how well you motivate them.
As a leader, you are setting the tone for the organization, so ensure you instill positive values, such as honesty and accountability. One of the most important things to remember when stepping into a leadership role is to realize you will make mistakes. No one expects you to be perfect, but being honest, owning up to them, and proactively working to remedy them is how you are an effective leader. People will respect you more if you are quick to admit a mistake rather than blaming, hiding, or avoiding it. Set the tone for the whole organization by embodying the values you want to see in others.
Starting out, the biggest mistake that I did as a founder was not delegating. I was trying to do everything myself. As a beginner, I was determined to do as many things as I could to ensure maximum quality. But gradually I learned that proper delegation makes employees more productive, empowered, and result-oriented. By assigning the right tasks to the right people, you are acknowledging that you trust their abilities, and it gives your employees great satisfaction and autonomy. On top of that, as a leader, delegation saves a lot of time for you to focus on the higher-value aspects of the business.
Leadership is much more than delegating tasks and directing a team. As the leader, you're also responsible for creating connections that will propel your team's vision. But networking in the business world is a dog-eat-dog game. It forces you to grow a thick skin to handle countless moments of rejection. When I started in healthcare marketing, many of the people I reached out to ignored my requests for market research interviews or even data on the state of our industry. Creating a startup can be emotionally challenging because success is a numbers game. You need to come prepared to spend hours prospecting and searching for connections, without burning out. Know that every rejection is just a step closer to the person who is ready and willing to help you. The struggle is what makes every milestone - no matter how small - extremely rewarding.
The first leadership role is like riding a giant wheel. Some days we are closer to the ground, and everything looks familiar. On other days we are at the top of the wheel and become disoriented. The birds-eye view of all the responsibilities is also utterly dizzying. During the first few months of taking on my first leadership role, the vast amount of information I had to soak up was overwhelming. Looking back, I wish someone had told me to be gentle with myself and not self-critical. My advice to new leaders is to take their time to ease into the role and get comfortable with not having the answers to everything. The best approach is to have a growth mindset and a can-do attitude.
When I first stepped into the role of a leader, I wish I had understood the importance of building trust and developing relationships. All too often, when starting, we can focus on generating results quickly instead of nurturing our team's growth or taking the time to establish meaningful connections with peers and colleagues. I've learned that creating an atmosphere of open dialogue and genuine understanding is key to fostering an environment that drives excellent performance - not just for this month but for years to come.
I wish I had known that success as a leader is not achieved overnight, but through gradual and consistent effort over time. When I first started my company, I was so eager to see the results that I would find myself thinking that robust success should be instant. When I was competing on Jeopardy, I felt the same way - that I should win the overall competition with my own brilliance. What I later realized is that long-term success is only achieved through small steps and continuous effort. No matter how small the successes were, I had to focus on taking one step at a time, and eventually, I got to where I wanted to be. Same with Jeopardy, you can only win, by correctly answering one question at a time.
As a leader, I wish I know that being a leader doesn't mean you only have to guide your team or peers. All leaders have a responsibility to help their team to find solutions. They should also help their peers whenever they have a problem. But there are some situations you may not find answers immediately. It's ok to fail sometimes. Instead of fretting or lamenting, you can discuss with your team to find a solution together. Leadership is all about learning and growing together. When you involve the team in a discussion, they feel involved and important. They deem they are playing a vital role in the company's growth. As a leader, you can also learn many things from your team. When you ask for help from your team, you build a strong connection with them. They will also feel free to ask you anything.
It's natural to have your hands full when you step into a leadership role which is why networking and collaboration often take a backseat. But if there's one thing I'd do differently — it would be prioritizing leaning into my network and learning from their experiences and challenges. Your network can be a goldmine of information and often connect you to people who can help you excel in your new role, offer insider insights or even be a source of inspiration when the going gets tough.
My belief in acknowledgment has always been rooted in my observations of the positive effects of applauding crowds and praises. I didn't realize, however, that the recognition process must begin as soon as we begin our activities. We must start rewarding work because what is rewarded is repeated, and we want individuals to continue making the same efforts. Then, we must include some quick wins in our plans to acknowledge those initial triumphs, all of which contribute to the development of momentum. Since recognition is one of the essential building blocks in developing high-performing teams, we as leaders do need to become chief recognition officers. However, it begins at the start of the voyage, not the end.
A big thing when entering a leadership role is the feeling of wanting to, and being expected to, know everything. You may even feel imposter syndrome setting in if there's an early occurrence of doubt when faced with a question you cannot answer. It's absolutely fine for you to say 'I don't know' when faced with a question. You're not expected to know everything as a leader, and pretending to know everything could in fact be much more damaging in the long-term!
Founder & CEO at GerdLi
Answered 3 years ago
As a first-time leader, I wish I had known just how liberating it could be to own up to my mistakes. In the early days of my leadership, I was so scared of faltering that it held me back from encouraging creative solutions and making decisions that could prove fruitful in the long run. Thankfully, I eventually learned how to back myself up and accept when things don’t go as planned — which helped fortify my confidence and enabled me to lead others through the complex territory confidently. Without realizing it at the time, embracing accountability as a leader has helped me to set a standard for others and create an open, unpredictable environment focused on growth.
When I started my career in leadership, I was disproportionately focused on the technical capacity of my team. The skillset erroneously tended to precede the person owning the skills. Unfortunately, this commonly overloaded my teams with technically compatible but emotionally incompatible subordinates. Instead of team players, I tended to have "superhumans" (with frightfully inflated egos) who felt they could save the world ON THEIR OWN -- instead of as a team. Moving forward now. Being a technical genius is no longer enough to get you a place on my team. I am now more interested in the person behind the skills. How well can you win with others? Do you think you are too infallible to be corrected by a colleague? If yes, you are probably too good to work with me.
Leaders build connections, which lead to stronger teams and a successful organization. They encourage employees to be creative, valuing their teams’ thoughts and ideas. So, they open communication pathways among employees and provide safe and nonjudgmental spaces for expression without fear of repercussions. Leaders encourage regular team-building and cross-functional initiatives for more opportunities for employees to build stronger relationships with each other. When employees feel connected to each other, they gain a sense of belongingness and meaning. They work better as a team, making task performance and goal achievement smoother.
When I first got a role as a team leader, I was daunted by the prospect of having to know everything. I was convinced that my team was going to spend all day firing questions at me that I didn't know the answer to and that they would be continually looking to me for guidance. I spent far too long before taking up the position finding out everything I possibly could about the role, but still, I felt inadequate, convinced that I would struggle to meet expectations. I had not given enough credit to the team. Yes, they had questions, but they wanted to find the answers themselves, and they knew where to go to find them. The team are specialists at what they do, they are resourceful, they accept better than I did that no one knows everything, but they had devised strategies to ensure that they could succeed, and it didn't take long for me to realize that I could learn as much from them as they did from me.
In hindsight, having more knowledge of the importance of showing empathy in one's leadership role would have been beneficial from the beginning of my career as a leader. Being able to show understanding to teams and employees towards their challenges is a key part of successful management and one that needs continuous practice. Seeing situations from different perspectives, no matter how difficult they may be, allows for improved decision-making and communication, creating positive relationships with those who are being led. Understanding this core element was key to my growth into an effective leader.