Angie Vaux, CEO & Founder, Women in Tech forum
31 August 2018
As I enter my 11th year as a leader of global businesses, I take a moment to reflect on my leadership journey and some of the (many) lessons I’ve learned along the way:
1. True leaders have followers– success is based on your ability to inspire, motivate, align and support others to be the best they can be. Take people on a journey and provide them with the tools, training and the empowerment to be successful.
2. Be authentic – the more you can sincerely connect with people and be open about your personal strategies to succeed and some of the challenges you’ve faced along the way, the more you build a loyal and engaged workforce.
3. Learn from failure – we aren’t perfect. Life isn’t perfect. Our greatest breakthroughs can develop from our failures.
4. Seek inputs from your employees at all levels – they have a wealth of insights and knowledge, which can support the growth of your business and provide vital input into areas such as product development and customer service.
5. Work on the business as well as in the business– create the space to think, to drive innovation and the future strategy of the business.
6. Actively cultivate emotional intelligence – picking up these subtle signals and adapting your leadership style accordingly will help you get the best out of people and build a loyal workforce.
And of course, core values such as integrity, honesty and loyalty, coupled with great communication skills, decisiveness and competency go a long way.
What are some of your leadership lessons? I would love to hear them.