Storytelling

10 Leadership Lessons From Successful CEOs

An insightful guide for lessons you can learn from successful CEOs like Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, and Elon Musk.

Key Takeaways

• Active listening, decisiveness coupled with flexibility and a culture of creativity are essential for effective leadership.
• Leaders must possess excellent verbal skills, empathy and integrity to truly inspire and guide their teams.
• Continuous learning, adaptability and maintaining a reality-based vision are key to navigating the ever-changing business landscape.

Today, it takes more than just management and strategy to birth a successful CEO; the shape of tomorrow’s business environment is veritably coloring itself outside those lines.  It means to personify a combination of insight, sensibility, courage, foresight and the most essential — listening.

This article focuses on the virtues that have not only turned leaders such as Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, and Elon Musk into icons but also act as a formula for aspiring legends to understand the complexity of modern leadership.

1. Be a trained listener

The skill of active listening defines good leadership.  It is more than just listening to words; it requires an active and deliberative process of understanding what other people say with different ideas from yours and truly comprehending their feedback.  Typical leaders such as Steve Jobs even encouraged feedback that was incorporated into Apple’s product development, giving rise to revolutionary innovations.

Dialogue, as opposed to monologues from leaders, enables the development of a culture that causes potentials and ideas full of revolutions to unlock before remaining unspoken.  As a method of encouraging teamwork, active listening ensures that every individual in the team feels appreciated and is given space to vent out their thoughts, following which a great feeling of belonging comes about, contributing positively to organizational success.

2. Decision-making: Be resolute yet adaptable

A business setting with rapid change makes it important to make decisions swiftly without compromising adaptability.  Through his “two-way door” rule, Jeff Bezos showed how strong decisiveness coupled with flexibility could lead to success.  Such an approach permits instant response if there is a low chance of reversals, hence encouraging an action-oriented culture in the organization.  Flexibility, however, does not mean unresolved decision-making.

On the contrary, it reflects an openness to continuous adjustment of strategies depending on the change.  This equilibrium is that the development does not restrict itself to relying upon apprehension, comparing sweats of progress were being squeezed out when under strain due to an excessively tight design environment and a quest for harmony with mediocrity over incorporating adversary perspectives into the blend.

3. Nurture a climate of creativity

Business competition depends on the creativity of any business human, and innovation is its lifeblood.  Musk’s appreciation of failure as a way to innovate proves that a culture that encourages risk-taking and experimentation also promotes growth.  The act of eliminating the fear of failure by leadership allows the creation of an atmosphere in which creativity and innovativeness become commonplace.  Another peculiarity of this culture is that it not only produces breakthroughs in terms of products and services but also nurtures employees by making them feel their contribution to the company’s success.

4. Express clearly and convincingly

Effective verbal skills are a fundamental requirement for bringing visions to life.  Successful conveyance of a vision means expressing your views in words other people would understand.  It motivates them to evolve into part and parcel of the manifesto as long as they aim to achieve your dreams.  Leaders need to acquire the ability to communicate their message in an inspirational laced manner that will bring out positive change, something which galvanizes and spurns passion amongst team members.

5. Lead with empathy

Empathetic leadership, as demonstrated by the new Microsoft and Satya Nadella’s work, involves being able to comprehend situations from individual team members’ perspectives while keeping in mind that their feelings matter.  This strategy creates an environment where staff members feel seen, appreciated and included.  Empathy in leadership does not imply that standards or accountability should be compromised; rather, it is about guiding with heart and compassion, improving team output and, most importantly, staff commitment.

6. First, assemble a good team and then trust them

The team behind it powers any form of success in any business organization.  Leaders such as Richard Branson highlight issues beyond gathering a group of talented and competent individuals but also allow them autonomy, hence total accountability.  This trust provides employees with powerful mechanisms, elevates their morale and catalyzes employee creativity.  To build it is scenery that encourages individuals to be aware of the company’s achievements and do their best.

7. Be a lifelong learner

Signals from the business landscape constantly change in today’s world, and it is only through lifelong learning that leaders will be equipped with direction.  As this is the case, leaders can learn a lot from Warren Buffet’s strong determination and commitment to constant learning.  However, by following new trends, technologies and methodologies, leaders can make informed decisions with an eye on their organizations.

8. Adaptability is key

The crucial quality in a changing business impact is adaptability. Leaders such as Reed Hastings of Netflix have shown the need to respond to changes and be ready and able to pivot in response to new threats and opportunities. Such agility ensures that firms stay competitive and creative as they steer through the thorns of market dynamics.

9. Integrity above all

Integrity provided the foundation for trusting leadership.  Those who, for instance, like Indra Nooyi, put ethical principles above everything else and transparency as guiding ideas not only cement trust within their organizations but also build a permanent legacy.  Leadership integrity builds an environment of transparency and accountability needed so that organizations can survive through time, respecting their place in business society.

10. Maintain reality-based grounding in bold vision

To that end, ambitions and reality are not contrary but supplementary attributes of an effective leader.  The characterization of Mark Zuckerberg best portrays the strength of recognizing a zealous leader who can dream big while acknowledging practical limits.  At the same time, as leaders have visionary goals, they remain anchored, alerting their teams to drive towards attainable success so that boundaries are pushed without being sidetracked out of current realities.

20 Essential Soft Skills Leaders Should Build In The Workplace

As the workplace continues to evolve with advancements in technology, so too are the skill sets demanded by employers seeking top talent.  While technical expertise matters, interpersonal soft skills are becoming more important than ever for professional success.

Here, 20 Forbes Business Council members discuss the soft skills that will be increasingly valuable and practical strategies professionals can employ to cultivate and sharpen these skills.  Whether you’re a seasoned executive or just starting your career, understanding and working on these skills will be crucial to thriving in the workplace.

1. Reverse Mentorship

Part of being a leader means cultivating next-level leaders while also remaining open to learning from them.  If you have the ability to upskill through exposure to diverse opinions, then you will be able to keep up with evolving market and workplace dynamics as different generations enter the workforce and change business expectations. – Afshan Hussain, Havas Health & You

2. Continuous Learning

One crucial soft skill for the future workplace is continuous learning.  Professionals can cultivate this skill by adopting a growth mindset, seeking feedback, staying curious, embracing experimentation and developing adaptability.  Continuous learning also involves the ability to unlearn ingrained concepts and learn from scratch, challenging assumptions that may have seemed written in stone. – Mila Smart

3. Dignity and Respect

Dignity and respect are valuable soft skills for the workplace of the future.  Surprisingly, it’s still in short supply.  I see people being disparaging to those they disagree with all the time.  Kindness is chemistry, and these behaviors are the gateway into the human brain.  When you demonstrate dignity and respect consistently and predictably, those on the receiving end will build a relationship around your needs. – Robert M. Donaldson, Collaborative Strategies Consulting Inc.

4. Empathy

Demonstrating empathy can strengthen staff relationships, promote trust and understanding and create an inclusive and supportive environment.  It encourages staff to share ideas, increasing morale, innovation and productivity. Leaders can cultivate empathy through active listening, encouraging open dialogue and displaying empathy in their actions and words. – Ryan Adams, GeoLinks

5. Verbal Communication

Verbal phone skills are valuable skills!  It’s surprising how many younger employees are uncomfortable making phone calls compared to email or texting.  Our customers want to speak with us on the phone.  Communication style and methods have changed over time, but professionals need to know how to have a clear phone voice, patience, good listening and strong verbal communication skills. – Nasutsa Mabwa, ServiceMaster Restoration By Simons

6. Resilience

The world will continue to evolve, so those who develop the resilience to overcome obstacles will succeed.  To build resilience, focus on building a trusting relationship with your boss and co-workers.  Those relationships are key to resilience because no one accomplishes anything alone. Having someone you can depend on is key in challenging situations. – Liz Haberberger, Dale Carnegie Missouri

7. Self-Awareness

Have a keen sense of self-awareness.  An unfiltered understanding of your strengths, weaknesses and areas for improvement will take you far.  This self-awareness allows you to make informed decisions about your professional development and adapt your approach as needed.  This makes you able to accept constructive criticism and focus more clearly on goals and areas of improvement. – Elizabeth A. Douglas, Esq., Douglas Family Law Group

8. Active Listening

Design, analysis, product and service development and delivery all depend on understanding what people want and need.  The best way to collect that data is active listening.  This means being able to assess not only what is being said but the tone, intonation and body movement, which all are key parts of communication. – Gary Romano, Civitas Strategies

9. Adaptability

Adaptability is a crucial skill.  The only thing constant in business is change.  This could be anything from technology to leadership changes and everything in between.  Whatever change it may be, the key is to take the time to understand what the changes are so you can quickly go through the change curve and embrace the change in front of you.  By doing this, you can position yourself as a valuable asset. – Sherry Taylor, Office Depot

10. Communication and Collaboration

The essence of leadership will be leading diverse teams with a strong focus on communication and collaboration—skills often seen in women leaders.  However, societal biases still favor traditional views of leadership as aggressive and tough, which are traits typically associated with men.  We’re committed to reshaping these perceptions and championing a more effective leadership model. – Julia Rafal-Baer, ILO Group

11. Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence will be crucial in the future workplace.  It involves empathy, self-awareness and interpersonal skills.  Professionals can cultivate it by practicing active listening, understanding different perspectives and regulating their own emotions. – Tomas Keenan, Step It Up Academy

12. Self-Regulation

We are frequently triggered in business.  As we work with people who are different from us, many of us have the responsibility of leading them.  An essential interpersonal skill to develop is self-regulation.  Our ability to be self-aware enough to know that we are being triggered and then choosing to manage our tone, facial expressions, body language and energy is key.  Self-regulation also increases credibility. – Bill Dickinson, C3 Leadership

13. Self-Reliance and Autonomy

Self-reliance and autonomy will be crucial soft skills in the future workplace, especially as the world shifts towards remote work.  Professionals can cultivate this by setting personal goals, managing their time effectively and continuously learning to solve problems independently. – Nick Zviadadze, MintSEO

14. Anger Management

The most important skill is anger management.  The workplace of the future will undoubtedly become more diverse, attracting many unique humans with different experiences and resources.  These cultural differences may cause conflicts to occur.  Therefore, it is most important to control your own emotions while being considerate of the other person’s feelings. – Karita Takahisa, UNIFY PLATFORM AG

15. Video Chat Behavior

Video meetings are here to stay!  Professional video chat behavior, like proper camera setup, looking into the camera instead of the corner of your screen and great lighting, make all the difference.  Book a session with a career coach or search YouTube for resources on how to improve your video chat skills. – Emily Reynolds Bergh, R Public Relations Firm

16. Vulnerability

Vulnerability creates trust, and trust is the currency of leadership and inspiring others to do great work.  It doesn’t mean spilling your heart on everything and crossing professional boundaries, but it does mean recognizing the humanity in others and drawing out the best in others by “going first” to build a culture of trust. – Jason Murray, Fringe

17. Work Ethic

I think in an ever-changing labor market where employees are becoming more assertive when it comes to what they want, one soft skill that employers will value the most is work ethic.  The ability to turn up and do over and beyond what is required will be a big game-changer in a world where quiet quitting has become the norm. – Erik Pham, Health Canal

18. Compassion

Compassion will be increasingly important as our country struggles through issues like health care costs and access, a broadening wealth gap, housing affordability, education costs, automation and all the other factors that make stress a limiting factor in the workplace.  People are people, not “resources,” and seeing them as such is critical for restoring dignity and commitment to work. – Cameron Deemer, DrFirst

19. The Ability to Connect with Others Digitally

The ability to form true, connected relationships with others through a virtual platform is going to be a superpower.  Teams are getting more and more spread out, so people are going to have to be prepared to achieve connection digitally. Leaders who are real and vulnerable can create enough safety to openly discuss the reasons why their teams aren’t naturally getting better results and progress. – Alex Cooke, Phase 3

20. Initiative

I love people with lots of initiative who are self-aware enough to really align and ask “why” questions before they run with something. Initiative absent of alignment can often create a lot of rework, and time is money. – Courtney Folk, Renewal Logistics