What, in your opinion, makes a good business leader?
“In my opinion, the ability to spot and build on great talent is essential. At OYO, we believe in distributed leadership and even refer to our employees as OYOpreneurs. OYO doesn’t require its leaders to have a hospitalityspecific background, but they must be armoured with holistic, innovative thoughts and a vision of the long-term strategy.”
“I believe that being a good business leader starts with yourself. Understanding your own strengths and weaknesses is very important, together with being aware of the potential impacts on your team both professionally as well as personally.
“My experience has taught me that providing a clear strategy together with a clear direction is key, as every individual has the capability to interpret your message in a different way.”
“I think trust and empowerment are two very important factors in leadership as well – empower individuals to take decisions based on the strategy and direction. For me, empowerment also means that it is OK to make a mistake, as this is part of the learning process and I have found that it is very rare that team members make more than one. When the time comes that you have to take a decision, it is important to take the decision quickly (in some circumstances) and always with fairness and equality.
“Finally, I believe that communication is key, together with passion for what you do, commitment to each individual team member and positivity.”
“I think first and foremost, it is being comfortable that you are not – and don’t have to be – the smartest guy in the room. I have been very fortunate to work for some great leaders in my time and I have always found that to be an admirable trait, as it enables a team to build competencies and engagement around what it is they are attempting to achieve. Second, to be a good leader, one has to genuinely care, and have concern for, the people they lead. Without that, mutual respect – and the desire to achieve against common goals – is near impossible to generate.”
“I have come to know a diverse group of leaders in different fields. Unwavering principles (on the basis that they are sound principles!) is a key differentiation which makes them stand out as being good for their company and for their staff. It provides consistency and generates long-term value to their companies or divisions which is then of interest to their stakeholders.
“Leading by example is another key component of a good leader. Asides being motivational to the people around the leader, it also generates trust in the message the leaders put out that they are willing to walk the walk. This is also necessary to successfully implement the aforementioned principle-based directions and forms a differentiator to clients and staff alike.”