A conversation I had earlier today got me thinking about what it means to be a leader.
Is it technical skill? Surely, you need to have the skill to perform your duties and an understanding of what your company or organization does to be successful. Is it experience? Yes, often that helps, though I think we all know that there have been cases where someone may have skills from another industry that can be transferred without having what is considered the “right” experience on paper, and still be a wildly successful leader. Is it executive presence? That may be debatable and probably depends on the audience that you’re speaking to as to what their definition of “executive presence” is.
So what are the right ingredients for being a leader?
Continue Reading What Does it Mean to be a Leader?
Join us for this week’s rainmaking recommendation from trainer and coach, 
A pandemic is a strange time to be a leader. It’s both terrifying, because you, as much as everyone else, have no idea what’s going to happen, but you have to put on a brave face to instill confidence and it’s, in some ways, exciting, because you get to test your skill set in a way you never have (although, let me be absolutely clear – every leader I know would hand it back over in a heartbeat). I talked to a law firm leader recently who said she regularly presents a calm and collected front to her shareholders and then hangs up the phone to cry. We laughed about it, because that is EXACTLY how it is – like ducks, we are serene above water while paddling like maniacs below. 
I’ll tell you a secret – the pandemic may not be over, but you can still be networking. Even when networking is primarily done in a virtual way, the substance of it has not changed; only the platform.