Not all leaders are created equal. Sometimes people find themselves in a leadership position and it’s not an instantly comfortable fit. They may experience some anxiety or imposter syndrome. The good news is that you can still learn to be a good leader even if you’re having those self-doubts. In fact, I’d encourage you to see those doubts as a sign of how much you care about doing a good job in your new leadership role.
Unfortunately, we’ve all had negative examples of workplace leaders. Too often, people in leadership roles are a pushover, a micromanager, or, regrettably, they confuse power trips with leadership. None of that is being a true leader. I interviewed one of my closest friends and one of the best leaders I know, Todd Davis on my podcast. Todd started LifeLock, the identity theft protection software, from the ground up and sold it for a billion dollars. One billion! If you ask him why he was successful, he will tell explain that he developed his skills to become a true leader. These are the qualities he feels you need to lead others in your business.
- Allow yourself to be challenged. All too often we get in a position at work, with our family, or in our company where we shut down when someone challenges us. Why are we shutting down? It’s because we don’t want to be wrong. We think we should already know everything, but having an open mind is something every leader needs to have. It’s okay to be wrong as long as you’re open to learning, even if it’s from someone who’s reporting to you.
- Make sure people can ask you for help. Never make someone feel stupid for asking a question. You should be open to all questions and be patient with people’s learning curves. To find out the other three qualities of a leader and soak in some of Todd’s motivation, click here to listen to the podcast.
Until Next Time,
Ken
Facebook Forum Question
Be sure to check in on the Facebook group each week where I answer questions that are asked by the community.
Jay asks:
I’m a believer in surrounding yourself with a team and we do that in new home construction. However, when we select a realtor, we do not put realtors on our team who also have their hands in building new homes. We avoid this because we know whose product will be shown first.
My question is about property managers. We are wanting to enter multi-family properties with long-term hold, cash flowing, models. We would also like to work toward your strategy of value adds with cash-out refinances to provide returns, tax-free. The area we are exploring is about 85k people or so. The larger and better appearing property management companies own several of the larger apartment complexes in this market. How would you approach this, or what would you consider, to avoid simply paying your competition to fill their vacancies and aggressively represent your interests instead of only their own? Thanks!
Ken Answers:
A great question. Not all PM companies are created equal. I know large ones that are horrible. I know small ones that are horrible.
The key is the individual and an MF property manager may not do a great job on single-family.
Find a local realtor or local investor that OWNS rentals. Ask them for referrals. Look for housing associations in your area where they have ongoing education, this could be a small owner group inside a larger apartment association. I know these are available in AZ, Texas and California. Just check your state.