You don’t make it to the top without a little help along the way. Or in most cases a LOT of help. A successful leader knows how to take advantage of every resource that can help them succeed and grow as leader. Great leaders inspire their team and challenge them to reach their full potential.
If your employees don’t feel like their work is valued or appreciated, they will quickly lose their motivation and passion for their career. A great leader is able inspire confidence, offer constructive feedback, and is well respected by their team. If you are ready to take your leadership skills to the next level, here are our top 5 Resources for Successful Leaders.
Take your leadership skills to the next level.
Podcasts
One of the easiest ways to improve as a leader is to listen to leadership podcasts. Instead of always listening to music, you can download episode to your phone and listen to them on the way to work, at the gym, or on the go. If you have time to listen to music, you have time to learn from industry experts. Most podcasts are set up as a question and answers interview with successful leaders in their fields. Even if they work in a different industry, there is still a lot you can learn from how other leaders got to where they are today and how they overcame mistakes or any hurdles along the way. Plus most shows are very entertaining so it will feel less like work and more like you are listening to an interesting radio show that was made just for you.
There are lot of leadership podcasts to choose from that cover all aspects of leaderships skills and techniques. Some of the most popular leadership podcasts include:
- The Nice Guys in Business by Doug Sandler
- Coaching for Leaders by Dave Stachowiak
- EntreLeadership by Ken Coleman
- Awesome Office – Sean Kelly and Sean Spear
- Engaging Leader – Jesse Lahey
Ted Talks
Ted Talks videos are also a great resource for leadership motivation and advice. If you have 18 minutes to spare, listen to a Ted Talk from the leadership topic section. The science behind each talk only being 18 minutes is it’s short enough to keep people’s attention and long enough to drive into and cover a topic. It also forces the speaker to narrow down their speech to only the most important and relevant information. That way you are getting that most bang for your buck during every talk. They have Ted Talks from entrepreneurs, athletes, psychologists, and lots of other experts in their industry to give you a fresh perspective on leadership and how to improve as a person and a leader. They also have exclusive articles about leadership if you are short on time or want to learn more. Here’s a link: https://www.ted.com/topics/leadership
Enterpreneur.com
https://www.entrepreneur.com/topic/leadership
Enterprenuer.com has a topic section dedicated just to leadership. Each article takes about 5-10 minutes to read, so you do have to focus a lot of time or energy on them. They are great resource for helpful tips and ideas to grow as a leader. If you are looking for inspiration or feeling stuck during the work day, read a few articles to help motivate yourself to take charge of your team.
Local Meetups
Sites like Meetup and your local small business groups can help you find local business events in your area. This meetups help bring like minded people together so they can share their experiences with one another, ask advice, and meet friends. If you are a small business owner or solo leader in your department, you most likely don’t have anyone in your company to bounce ideas off of or offer advice on better ways to manage your team. These groups can be a great resource to learn from your peers and other business owners. You can also share the knowledge you’ve already learned with the group to help everyone succeed. Just be aware that some meetups are more about letting of steam and making friends than talking about business. Most people are happy to exchange business cards and talk more about industry over lunch or after work another day though.
Advice Apps
Sometimes you just need a quick piece of advice or talk to an expert in your field to get their opinion on something. Nowadays, it’s easier than ever to connect with like minded individuals from everywhere in the world who can help you grow as a leader. There are free apps like Officehours that connect you with an advisor for a free quick 10 minute meeting. Paid platforms like Clarity connect you with experts from all types of businesses and backgrounds so you can find the right mentor for your needs.You can even book a call with Mark Cuban from Shark Tank for $166.67 per minute! There are of course a lot of experts with more reasonable fees ready to help you become a more successful leader.
Becoming a successful leader takes a lot of work and there is always room to improve. Experts say that you become good at something after 100 of dedicated practice, advanced at 1,000 hours and an expert at 10,000 hours.
Being a great leader takes daily effort and learning. Along with resources such as podcasts, Ted Talks, and blog posts from Entrepreneur.com, finding yourself a mentor is a big step and can take some to time to find one. Mentors who are experienced in helping others can help you reach your goals faster than on your own.
If you are looking to learn from other people and have an insightful conversion about leadership tips and tricks, or even to find a mentor, you can find a local meetup group to find other leaders in your area or use advice apps to reach out to experts anywhere in the world. If you are looking from more articles this, check out our blog for posts like How to Delegate Successfully in Business and The Art of Networking in Business.
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