New York SBDC Research Network

      I n the spirit of new year's resolutions, I wanted to share a couple of articles on being a leader for your business. These items are about the need for leadership and what that means. Many people don't consider their leadership style; they either inherit a method or randomly strike out without a plan. Organizations often randomly develop a cobbled together method that is predominantly reactionary. We admire companies that have a well-developed set of goals and philosophy but don't sit down to translate values into an approach for ourselves. Putting out fires is necessary but equipping your business with a value system that can be flexible and respects all involved ensures that employees and partners are equipped to handle the inevitable challenges that arise. Like any other skill, leadership skills can be developed. Organizing people toward a shared goal may seem like herding cats but most people want to do better. Seizing on that impulse is key and can be encouraged

There are  different kinds of leadership styles , including the servant-leader style that focuses on the  growth and well-being of people and communities.  Learn more about servant-leaders .   

Psychologists have found that  successful leaders share the same basic traits . While circumstances also play into the mix, great leaders are those who build these traits over time.  In this newsletter, we cover other ways to build your leadership skills, as well as a few examples of things not to do, courtesy of some well-known CEOs. 

What exactly does sales have to do with leadership? You can’t build a successful enterprise if you don’t know how to motivate a team and get them to buy into your vision. This is where the art of sales comes in. Great leaders seem to have this uncanny ability to motivate people to take action. It might appear that this ability is natural, but that isn’t always true. Leading others is a skill, one that can be learned and that needs to be honed over time. Read more from BPlans.com

From BPlans.com : Do you have what it takes to become a successful leader? The best way to become one is to disregard it as your goal and focus on your learning journey. One of the most valuable skills I have learned is that if you want to be a leader, you need to be both focused and curious. These 15 tips come from experience, reading, and attending master classes.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Small Business Administration launched its 2013 Emerging Leaders executive-level training initiative, formerly known as e200, in 27 cities and communities across the country. Since 2008 the initiative has trained more than 1,300 promising small business owners in underserved communities, and continues to expand its impact helping small businesses grow and create jobs. The city of Los Angeles is joining the initiative for the first time and Oklahoma City, Portland and Seattle are returning. “Emerging Leaders has a proven track record of helping small businesses in underserved communities,” said SBA Administrator Karen Mills. “Graduates of the program have increased their revenue, created jobs and helped drive local economic growth in their communities. The addition of four major cities this year builds on this success and provides even more entrepreneurs in underserved communities with the support, resources and skills to succeed.” The Emerging Leaders initia

"Time is a resource that must be utilized wisely in order for professional and personal goals to be achieved. Goal setting is one of the best ways to make sure time is managed in a manner designed to reach success. A recent video article posted on the online source inc.com highlighted five great time management techniques that are easily understood and employed. The video was created by Scott Gerber. Leadership development within an organization must account for time management work with all leaders. Again, goal setting is the key to effective time management for any successful leader." Time Management: 5 Useful Tips

Being a small business owner can be rewarding in many ways but can be frustrating as well. You know the saying, “If I only knew then what I know now?” Leadership is important in your business whether you have 1 employee or over 50 employees. Hopefully, these tips will help you on how to be a good leader for your business if you are not already. All of these tips can’t be done just once, you need to practice them daily or weekly or monthly. Repetition of each task will get you in a routine and make your business run smoother. Tip One: Work on your Business, Not in It This actually sounds pretty ridiculous because you should know how to do the majority of aspects in your business. This means that you need to focus on your future plan and how your business is going to move forward and grow. You are the mastermind of starting your business. You can’t stop thinking and growing just because you are now open. Sometimes it is a lot easier to focus on the day-to-day operations of your b

His saga is the entrepreneurial creation myth writ large: Steve Jobs cofounded Apple in his parents’ garage in 1976, was ousted in 1985, returned to rescue it from near bankruptcy in 1997, and by the time he died, in October 2011, had built it into the world’s most valuable company. Along the way he helped to transform seven industries: personal computing, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, retail stores, and digital publishing. He thus belongs in the pantheon of America’s great innovators, along with Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and Walt Disney. None of these men was a saint, but long after their personalities are forgotten, history will remember how they applied imagination to technology and business. In the months since my biography of Jobs came out, countless commentators have tried to draw management lessons from it. Some of those readers have been insightful, but I think that many of them (especially those with no experience in entrepreneurship) fixate too much on

I recently asked a struggling business owner how he thought he rated as a boss. He responded by asking, How do you know if you’re a good boss? What defines a good boss? No doubt, bosses and employees have different perspectives and can see things differently. To me, a good boss is someone who runs a good company and treats people well. Here are some questions that I think can help assess a boss’s performance:

Great communication is a key to being a good leader. Communicating with the entire team can be a challenging thing to take on. An article posted in linked in highlights several key areas in which a leader can increase the level of communication with employees at all levels of the organization. The improvement in communication with employees will result in higher employee engagement. This blog post will highlight five key areas any leader can concentrate on to improve his or her ability to communicate more effectively. More HERE .