Vistage Blog

“I had fourth-division feet and a first-division head”, said a younger Jurgen Klopp in the days when he was managing Borussia Dortmund FC. And since his managerial career began in 2001, he’s shown just what that first-division head can do. He secured promotion to the Bundesliga for Mainz 05, won consecutive league titles for Borussia Dortmund – upsetting German top dog Bayern Munich – and, most recently, took Liverpool close to winning the 2018-19 Premier League title, not to mention a Champions League win the same year.

Leadership is about decisions - so much so that a Chief Executive Officer may as well be called a Chief Decision Maker. Yet 60% of executives surveyed by McKinsey think their companies make bad strategic decisions more often than good ones. The suggestion here? There’s room for improvement in the CEO’s core discipline: decision-making.

Elon Musk and Jack Ma are two very successful business magnates who have changed the game when it comes to putting a public face to their respective companies and utilising modern tactics and ideas to build a globally recognised brand.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year (ding dong). Lights are twinkling, Slade’s playing on every radio channel and all eyes turn towards the Chief Exec of Christmas, the main man, the one and only: Santa Claus.

Leadership and the journey to becoming a leader are not for the faint-hearted. From personal development to managing a team to business operations, the challenges are endless. If you’re a woman, the road is even rockier.

There’s a constant challenge involved in creating, leading and growing a business. Success takes time, money and energy away from one’s own self, one’s personal wellbeing. It’s the classic work-life balance equation, but with higher risks and rewards involved.

Business trends come and go. Just when you think you’ve got to grips with the latest one, five new ones pop up and make you re-evaluate everything. Some make good business sense and are built to last, others are all style and no substance, and the rest are clickbait flashes in the pan. So how do you know what’s worth pursuing and what’s not?

We live in a hero-worshipping culture; one in which individual strength, success and achievement are held up as ideals to emulate and deify. From film stars and singers to sporting champions and politicians, we’re naturally drawn to those who seem superhuman.

What does the word ‘leader’ make you think of? A powerful army general? An eloquent politician? A confident, charismatic CEO? We tend to associate strong leadership with certain alpha-type characteristics: extroversion, confidence and unwavering self-belief - or arrogance.