I recently read an INC. article by Damian Bazadona entitled “6 Traits of Great Leaders”

He nailed the most important ones. His entire list is extremely important to a leader's personal and professional success.

However, I would like to submit there is a seventh trait: the ability to give responsibility to others and let them do their best.

Many entrepreneurs cannot get it through their heads they cannot do everything themselves. They must give responsibility to their managers to get the job done well and many times better than the entrepreneur alone.

In the many businesses I owned and managed, giving responsibility to others to get the job done was, quite frankly, difficult to do early on. However, once I learned this was the only way a business would grow and prosper, I found it much easier to delegate.

Read the article; tell me what you think.

Business for Sale?

I was reading an interesting article the other day on selling one’s business, and some thoughts came to mind.

As you grow your business, you must always keep in mind that everything has a life-cycle. If you subscribe to this belief, you must always keep in mind that your business will probably be sold one day.

In order to realize full value for all your years of hard work, you should pay very close attention to the questions raised in this article; it has some great stuff in it. And frankly, if liquidation is a real consideration, then it is probably too late to do anything else.

That said, an executive coach can keep you centered on the areas that are most important in growing your top line and, more importantly, your bottom line. A coach will make you aware of the unstated assets that are not on your balance sheet such as Quality of Management, and the value of your name, just to mention a couple of important items.

Here are some situations where a good Executive Coach can help you get maximum value:

• Identifying and clearly articulating the owner’s personal and professional goals
• Identifying the priorities to make the business more valuable in sales, profits and quality of management
• Identifying and articulating the Uniqueness of your product or service
• Strong financial controls
• Re-investment in plant and equipment
• Awareness of your competition and what they are doing in the marketplace
• Employee compensation and motivation
• Having someone where you may have an opportunity to talk, express your fears, wants needs and desires.

Being at the top can be a very lonely place.

What thoughts are on your mind concerning your business? Perhaps we should talk.