Top 8 Leadership Attributes from Lasting Leaders
As an entrepreneur and CEO of www.fanfuego.com, a social network where pro athletes engage with passionate fans, I read alot to learn more about being a great leader. A while ago, Nightly Business Report (NBR) – the most watched daily business program on U.S. television – and Knowledge@Wharton joined forces to identify the 25 most influential business leaders of the past 25 years. This collaboration resulted in a book, written by Knowledge@Wharton in partnership with NBR and published by Wharton School Publishing, entitled Lasting Leadership: Lessons from the 25 Most Influential Business People of Our Times. I thought it was a good list to reflect on as a CEO.
1. They are able to build a strong corporate culture.
2. They are truth-tellers.
3. They are able to find and cater to under-served markets.
4. They can “see the invisible” – that is, spot potential winners or faint trends before their rivals or customers.
5. They are adept at using price to build competitive advantage.
6. They excel at managing and building their organization’s brand (which in some cases may be their own name).
7. They are fast learners.
8. They are skilled at managing risk.
How do you do at this list? Are these your attributes? Take some time and see how you did and let me know — these are excellent areas to look at and aspire towards in your entrepreneurial career.
Leaders interviewed for the book included in alphabetical order: Mary Kay Ash, founder of Mary Kay Inc.; Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon.com; John Bogle, founder of The Vanguard Group; Richard Branson, CEO of Virgin Group; Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway; James Burke, former CEO of Johnson & Johnson; Michael Dell, CEO of Dell Computers; Peter Drucker, the educator and author; William Gates, chairman of Microsoft; William George, former CEO of Medtronics; Louis Gerstner, former CEO of IBM; Alan Greenspan, Chairman, U.S. Federal Reserve; Andrew Grove, chairman of Intel; Lee Iacocca, former CEO of Chrysler; Steven Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer; Herbert Kelleher, chairman of Southwest Airlines; Peter Lynch, former manager of Fidelity’s Magellan Fund; Charles Schwab, founder of The Charles Schwab Corp.; Frederick Smith, CEO of Federal Express; George Soros, founder and chairman of The Open Society Institute; Ted Turner, founder of CNN; Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart; Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric; Oprah Winfrey, chairman of the Harpo group of companies; and Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank.
