“You teach what you know but reproduce who are.” -John Maxwell
Over the years, I have been fortunate to have many great mentors. All with unique leadership styles. However, each of them shared similar core philosophies. Not only did they teach what they knew but they have been intentional about developing other leaders but not just telling, but in being the leader, others want to emulate.
Here are five valuable lessons I have learned from them that can help you become a better leader that empowers, encourages, and equips others to lead a more fruitful professional and personal life.
1. Know and embrace your style of leading- NFL Hall of Fame of coaches Bill Parcells and Tony Dungy. Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. All unique leadership styles. Each of their styles worked and created others leaders. Each of them stayed true to who they are. One of my mentors said to me, “Know your style of direction and yet glean from others. When you compare yourself to others, you will always come in second. Know your style and be the best you.”
2. Be consistent in the care of your staff/team- Consistency leads to unity, which leads to harmony, which leads to growth.
3. Be intentionally open and accessible for others- I have worked for a company for nine years in which the CEO had an open door policy. The Ceo always wanted to be approachable for his employees so they would feel comfortable talking to him. This has been truly a wise and great lesson for me. Just knowing that I could connect with him was empowering. He believed it was important to remain in touch with people. As the old saying go people don’t work for a company, they work for people.
4. Be patient and willing to work with EPR people. For my mentor EPR stood for Extra Patience Required. Every team has them. Every leader will face them. While we should not bend for those who break the rules, who turn away from what makes the team the team, we should express patience and accommodation even to those who might be difficult. Because they might be difficult for a reason. I have coached many top performers over the years that would be deemed difficult, yet because I was patient with them, they became some of my most loyal, top performing teammates.
5. As a leader, love and care for people- I know this may sound “different” for the workplace. However, I have learned that the leaders who I felt really cared about me as the person and not just the numbers I performed better for. People who feel good about themselves produce good results and stay on your team longer. Care enough about others that you are willing to have not just the comfortable conversations, but also the uncomfortable conversations.
Just like you I am a product of mentorship. My hope in sharing these five principles with you is that equips empowers, and encourages you to be a better leader not only for others but also yourself.
What leadership principles have you learned that has helped you create better results?
Equip, Empower, Educate,
Tony Jalan
Did you find this articule helpful? If so I invite you to share, comment, etc.
About Tony Jalan is a top performing Sales Manager at Heartland Payment Systems, a Fortune 1000 company voted by Selling Power Magazine the #1 company to sell for in the U.S. Tony’s strategies on leadership and mentorship has created growth of 300% in his sales division in just 6 short years. Tony is also the author of Mentorship Lessons, a weekly blog about lessons he has learned about sales and leadership over a career that has spanned over 18 years..
Written by
Tony Jalan-
Tony Jalan-
Top Performing Sales Leader | Leadership Coach | High Performance Culture through Attitude-Activity-Accountability