Leadership is vital to all organizations that want to succeed and grow. A positive, empowering leader can make all the difference from the top down and can directly impact employee satisfaction and positive team health. It is also a learned skill; good leaders can be made and their innate leadership abilities can be honed by a continual process of development and learning.

Leaders Learn From Experience

“Nothing so conclusively proves a man’s ability to lead others as what he does from day-to -day to lead himself.”   Thomas J. Watson

The adage that you learn by doing is one that definitely applies to great leaders. Taking in the lessons from daily experience and using that information to adapt quickly and positively is imperative to businesses today. They are operating in global marketplaces that may be “on” 24/7. Insightful leaders have a hands-on approach, seek out experiences that grow and challenge them, and apply those experiences to day-to-day business.

Experiential learning keeps the mindset of a leader fresh and feeds their passion, which is infectious throughout the company.

Leaders Learn From Formal Training

Effective leaders need to step away from the immersion of their own company to attend formal training and conferences within their particular industries. Innovative ideas, social networking and a break in focus on the day-to-day running of the company are all mandatory in the development and growth of good leadership. Fresh ideas and relationships may come out of formal training and conferences that are extremely beneficial.

Leaders Learn by Listening to Their Team

“Outstanding leaders go out of their way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel.
If people believe in themselves, it’s amazing what they can accomplish.”  Sam Walton

An open door policy and a workplace environment that thrives on inviting and sharing opinions, criticisms and new information is one that will succeed. Good leaders are those who place good managers throughout the company and then listen to their feedback.

Leaders Learn From Challenges In and Out of the Workplace

Leaders learn not only from experience in the workplace, but out of the workplace as well. Top leaders will seek out new and challenging experiences in and out of the office that cause them to stretch and develop skills that they didn’t know they had.

Leaders Learn by Leading

“We need to accept that we won’t always make the right decisions, that we’ll screw up royally sometimes — understanding that failure is not the opposite of success, it’s part of success.” Arianna Huffington

Leaders aren’t always the head of a Fortune 500 company. They are everywhere — small business owners, entrepreneurs and employees who are seeking development of their own leadership abilities are blazing new paths every single day in the business sector. Excellent leaders are those who take their thoughts and implement them into positive and powerful action. They understand the importance of mindful and confident action. And they understand the importance of failure and learning from that failure to create a successful future. Leaders learn by leading.