3 Things Great Leaders Know

Leaders lead.   It’s that simple.  When given the opportunity to lead or follow, they will always lead.  But what sets a good leader apart is their ability to watch and recognize pattern shifts.  Great leaders watch patterns and make adjustments based on those patterns. 

Here are three areas that every great leader patrols to insure their company’s success:

1.      Market: What is your market doing? What are your potential clients doing?  What are your competitors doing?  Are you on their email and mailing list? If not, why not? Shouldn't you know what your clients are being told? Are you getting a lot of repeat business or referrals? If not, why not?  Do you have a systematic market survey that you send to clients? Are you connecting with them when you’re not trying to sell them something?  You want to occupy prime real estate in their heads.  What about unhappy clients?  Unhappy clients are a gold mine because you have nothing to lose and a wealth of information to gain.

2.       Industry: What is your industry doing? What has it done in the past and what direction is it heading? If you’re in book publishing business and you’re not in eBook publishing perhaps you should study your industry’s patterns of growth and change.  Is your industry at the beginning of its life cycle or at the end?  If it’s at the end, how are you adapting to be relevant and innovative?  Look up Western Union’s rich history, 160+ years in business shows they know how to reinvent and reinvent and reinvent.

3.    Your Company:  Here’s the one I believe average leaders miss but great leaders almost never miss.  Has the team’s dynamic changed at all?  Sometimes leaders are so busy leading that they forget to look and see who’s following, who’s fallen behind, who’s no longer making the grade and who’s emerging as a leader of the pack. When was the last time you ran a “systems check”? Not the annual performance evaluation tune-up, the check the brakes and the oil and the air filter systems check.  What’s going on with the leaders you lead? Are they challenged enough? Is their work load to light or too heavy? I frequently ask our teams, does anyone have any cares, questions, concerns or complaints?  Remember, it’s never a problem until it’s a problem.

Seanlai M. Cochrane is the CEO of Divirsus™, a multi-million dollar national provider of professional construction services.   Ms. Cochrane's service to Divirsus™ led to the company being recognized by several trade groups as well as  in the illustrious Inc.500/5000 list ranking 884 overall, #27 in construction companies, and #5 in Oklahoma Companies. As a professional speaker Ms. Cochrane speaks to and consults with business leaders and entrepreneurs. @SeanlaiC