“The scary part about leadership is that you sometimes have to walk a walk you haven’t walked before.”

 

Following last episode’s theme of discussing innovation, Tony and Peter begin this week talking about leadership as the key piece of innovation. Badly-led programs often impact their clients’ trust going forward, and entrepreneurs striving to do transformational work often encounter this with their prospects.

 

A really effective program is one that set its clients up to be led, and filters out clients who are not “lead-able.” Clarity and vision are important leadership qualities, which enable clients to succeed and accomplish real, positive change.

 

”There are no mistakes along this journey of innovation. The only real mistakes are value mistakes: Mistakes that expose greediness, a lack of caring, and a lack of adherence to that ‘why.’”

 

Entrepreneurs can easily be tempted to “outsource leadership.” While it is necessary to bring in quality help for functions of your business, beware of taking someone on to transfer blame and responsibility when things go wrong. At the end of the day, you are the architect of your business, you built your team, and you’re the leader.

 

Self-leadership is also important and you must follow through to set the right example for your clients, team members and prospects alike.

 

Setting boundaries in your business is key. Boundaries empower the people you work with by putting the expectation of success on them, rather than allowing them to shift that expectation and the risk onto you.

 

“Preeminence is this idea that we are the preeminent leader, and we are going to serve clients before there is any exchange of money, before they are even a client. The only thing that we need to serve  a client is their permission in saying, ‘Yes, I need help, and yes, I want to be served.’”

 

The other big concept to consider is the “nightmare client.” This is the client who drains your resources and energy, and leaves you puzzled. There are two points where the nightmare client originates:

 

1. From your desire for a sale over leading a client: A profit-first attitude may cause you to ignore red flags, accept clients you can’t help, and waste your bandwidth.
2. Relinquishing the leadership role: Hard decisions and conversations are occasionally necessary, and being a leader means putting aside your fear of uncertainty, stepping away from toxic clients, asking difficult questions, and enforcing boundaries.

 

Ultimately, the answer is your devotion to your “why,” your reason for being in business at all should always be your benchmark. If you can’t ask the hard questions, take ownership of your role as a leader, and devote yourself to the success of your clients, then innovation and true leadership aren’t in your future.

 

This wraps up our 2-part study on innovation. Keep an ear out for the next episode of Scaling Transformation with Tony Banta and Peter Frumenti!

 

Some Topics we discuss in this episode:

 

• Introduction - 0:42
• Leadership and Lack Thereof - 0:40
• What’s Your “Why”? - 6:05
• Self-Leadership - 11:00
• When Does Leadership Start? - 15:45
• Nightmare Clients - 21:00
• Wrap-up and Takeaways - 28:00

 

How to get involved

• Join us in the official Scaling Transformation Facebook Group

 

If you liked this episode, be sure to subscribe and leave a quick review on iTunes. It would mean the world to hear your feedback and we’d love for you to help us spread the word!