The Advisor as Inspirer

What makes a good leader? It’s a tough question with many answers. As Kathleen Brush, corporate turnaround executive and author of The Power of One, says: “The biggest challenge to being an effective leader is understanding that employees aren’t the problem. If there are problems in your organization, it’s not the employees; it’s you.”

When Stephanie Bogan, senior vice president of client experience and training at United Capital, owned a financial services consulting firm, she would frequently experience what she now calls “control seizures.” Was she a nitpicker? Yes. A micromanager? Absolutely.

“People can change. I used to be the shining example of how not to do it. Leaders must realize that their job is to envision and not, always, to execute,” says Bogan. “You need to look at yourself as the Chief Leadership Officer as opposed to the CEO, or Chief Everything Officer. A true chief executive is a leader—someone who can envision a future that doesn’t exist and influence people to go with them there.”

Former White House advisor and economist Todd Buchholz says leadership requires a mission, a belief and clarity. “Those are characteristics where CEOs easily stumble. There are many folks who hold leadership positions but have no idea where they want to take their organizations. It’s been sad to see Michael Dell and Dell Computer stumble for years now,” adds Buchholz, author of Lasting Lessons from the Corner Office and other books. “What’s your mission? What are you trying to do? If you can’t communicate that—if you can’t get it out of your mouth—it’s another way you can easily fail. The good news is that these things can be taught.”

How do you lead your employees, your clients, your life? Do you want to do a better job of it? Here are tips from top experts:

Hone your predictive intelligence

Leadership can be summed up in one word: prediction. As Matthew Cross, president and chief strategist of the Stamford, Conn.-based Leadership Alliance, frames it, “Leaders on the whole make predictions about future outcomes that come true more often than not. That’s why Warren Buffett is so renowned. He makes a lot of calls or predictions that come true more often than not. That’s why we talk about Warren.”

Cross says advisors can strengthen their predictive intelligence by taking a step back from their everyday business and surveying their complete ecosystem. “Most advisors, rookies and seasoned vets, don’t take that step back,” he says. “Yet our life is one big system. We need to create a series of steps or processes that lead to a clear, desired aim. You can’t manage just one piece of it and expect the whole to get better.”

Advisors, according to Cross, should ask themselves: What is my vision for my practice and my life? How do I make better choices every day? How can I make sure I’m working on the right things in the right order? How can I have a better day tomorrow? Cross says it’s also important to fully understand “core-driving” values like family, health, integrity and respect.

“You need to be contemplative, mindful and occasionally strategic. Am I hitting on all core drivers or am I just randomly going forward hoping to hit the big time? I suggest that everyone is a leader,” he says. “Anyone at any age can activate their natural talents for leadership. We simply have to step back and start asking better questions.”

Be a servant leader

There are different types of leadership styles but in the service-based advisory business, the successful chief executive tends to be a servant leader, according to consultant Angie Herbers, who heads Angie Herbers Inc. in Manhattan, Kan.

“Do you believe your employees and clients are there to serve you or are you here to serve them? When you become a servant leader, your whole view on what your business is changes,” she says.

One case in point: An advisor Herbers works with complained incessantly about an employee who arrived at work late and left early even though the employee was getting his job done. The employee eventually left and Herbers hired his replacement. Three days into the new hire’s tenure, the advisor called Herbers and demanded that he be fired because he didn’t know, among other things, how to use a certain software program.