What makes a great small business leader?

In a recent blog post, we presented a list of questions to ask yourself if you’re thinking of starting a small business. One of those questions was related to leadership in small business. What answer did you give to that question? What qualities does a strong leader of a small business possess? As providers of comprehensive small business training, we know that good leadership is just as important to an entrepreneur’s success as a good accountant or an exit strategy.

A small business leader has – and shares – a strong vision

The sign of a strong small business leader is a strong vision, both when you start a business and during its lifecycle. As a small business owner, you are the one responsible for setting the direction in which you want to grow. The life of an entrepreneur is hectic, but a clear vision gives your small business some stability. If your business has employees, it’s critical that you share your vision with them – it allows them to take pride in where they work and demonstrates that you’re a leader who knows their stuff.

Effective small business leadership is done so by example

So you have a strong vision and a great business model – but effective leadership doesn’t end there. Great small business leaders really walk the talk, demonstrating to others just how they embody their business’ values, mission and principles. As the leader in your small business, inspire others through your actions, not just your words.

Great small business leaders recognize the potential of their team

How motivated and inspired do you think your employees would be if they weren’t allowed to ask questions or present concerns? What opinion would they hold of you as a leader? Great small business leaders understand that good ideas can come from many sources. Encourage your employees to approach you with concerns or ideas, and really listen to them. Delegate tasks to your team members – this one’s hard for some entrepreneurs, but it’s vital. If you have executives or managers, invest in business training courses to help them build their skills. These actions will prove that you’re a small business leader who recognizes the value of your team.

A strong small business leader is ethical and stable

Being an entrepreneur means wearing many hats, which then means bearing a fair amount of stress. However, as a good small business leader, you must be able to deal with any issue without letting the stress get the better of you. Great small business leaders also possess strong ethical standards and expect their employees to meet these standards as well. Strong ethical standards and emotional stability prove to others that you are a leader who is fully in control of your business.

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Statistics from USAID’s Global Pulse 2010

In a recent blog post, Dr. Leslie Roberts summarized her participation in USAID’s Global Pulse 2010. The event is now over, and Dr. Rajiv Shah, Global Pulse 2010’s administrator, has given us some of the event’s statistics.

Considering it was initiative of the United States Agency for International Development, it’s surprising that 60% of participants were from outside of the United States. Exactly half of all the event’s participants were under 35 years old and women made up 51% of participants. That last statistic interesting when compared with a finding GoForth Institute used when creating our small business training courses – that women made up 35% of the total self-employed in Canada. Women are active both in international development and in start-up business!

According to Shah:

This global conversation attracted over 6,000 participants from over 155 countries who posted over 9,000 ideas, reactions, opinions, and perspectives  . . .  This content will provide valuable input as we shape and assess the strategic direction of our foreign affairs agencies, their programs, and future engagement with stakeholders.

We at GoForth Institute will be eagerly monitoring any initiatives or further discussions that transpire – we’ll keep you posted!

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Are you ready to start a small business?

At GoForth Institute, we know all too well that a great idea doesn’t always translate into a great business. If you’re thinking of starting a small business, here are some questions to ask yourself:

  • How well do I handle risk?
  • How do I cope with stress?
  • Do I have the support of my family and friends?
  • Am I willing to work longer than usual to start my small business?
  • Are my finances strong enough to support me if my small business doesn’t see income immediately?
  • Do I have management or technical experience in a business similar to the business I want to start?
  • How well do I lead or manage others?
  • Do I have any accounting or bookkeeping knowledge?
  • What is most important to me in running a small business – making money or doing what I love?
  • How adaptable am I?
  • How do I make difficult decisions?
  • Do I have a long-term plan for my small business?
  • Do I have a business model?

These are just some questions you need to ask yourself when thinking of starting a small business of your own. As you can see, a successful start-up business is much more than having a great idea. We cover this important topic of “entrepreneurial readiness” in the first module of our web-based video small business training, launching on April 15th.

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Should developing countries help less developed countries?

I have been participating in USAID’s Global Pulse 2010 online worldwide collaboration of minds for the next 24 hours (the event has been going for two days now) with individuals who have been invited to share their perspectives on global social issues, entrepreneurship and development.  The thread I’m keen on is Pursuing Grand Challenges defined as:

No one person or nation can solve today’s problems alone. How can we collectively identify grand challenges and apply science, technology, and new collaboration models to address them?  Over the next decade, what do you see as the biggest challenges the international community faces? These could be anything from global health to internet freedom/security to improving urban infrastructure. How can we work together to both build collaboration models that address these challenges and create concrete solutions to them?

The current relationship between economically have countries (Canada, USA, western Europe) and poor countries is not great. We would expect that in the current Global Era, with better and cheaper ways of communications, these relationships would improve – but in reality it is deteriorating. I do not think the problem is failure of foreign policy. The real problem is Expectation Gap – what is each partner expecting from the other? Are these expectations based on reality? How can we abolish this gap?

Pot-stirrer that I am, I posted this to the community:

Perhaps the real question is: what should be the engagement between rich and poor countries? Should economically rich countries even be active in development – and in what ways? There are many options for engagement – foreign policy, micro-finance, technology sharing and so on, but to me the question becomes one of philosophy rather than pragmatism. Should we be there? Why? Should we not take care of social problems in our own country first before we head off to save the world? And, point of clarification, we are all “developing” countries to some extent, are we not?

Should we “developed countries” assist “developing coutries” and if so, how?  Do we have the right?  Morally or ethically? What do you think?

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