Through visionary business leadership and market savvy, many companies are making significant leaps as they showcase innovations to meet rising consumer demand. There never seems an end to newer versions of smartphones, cars, computers, and other tech-driven commodities.
As the COVID 19 pandemic ravages economies and all kinds of businesses across the globe, some are still finding a way to make profits and make a real positive difference.
For instance, there is a mad rush to produce the vaccine for the latest mutation of the coronavirus. The potential profit in this essential endeavor will be in the billions of dollars. Entire populations of different countries will need such an invention. For them to achieve this, the leaders in the health and medical technology industries are pulling all stops just to be the first to offer the much-anticipated safe, effective coronavirus vaccine.
Whether in a pandemic or the midst of a global recession, truly gifted business leaders always seem to know what to do. Aside from their unique mindsets and personalities, they all have a few things in common. These titans of industry and commerce have always applied these principles or approaches that helped them tower above the rest:
Keep Looking for Opportunities
Like the pharmaceutical industries that have been presented with opportunities during an otherwise dreadful pandemic, the excellent business leaders are always on the prowl for openings, needs, and wants that their company’s product or service could fill.
As an example, the modern foreign exchange industry has made fortunes for many in the Western World. A few select people saw a gap and decided to put up an Islamic forex broker agency to cater to a growing pool of investors who needed a Halal way of participating in the forex market.
To find an opportunity, one must listen to customers and clients, watch the market trends, and look for problems to solve. These ‘problems’ are goods or services that people need that are not yet available to them. For instance, the quarantine in many countries has affected schools and how students learn. Many companies that specialize in Learning Management Systems (LMS) have become in demand because there is a gap in educational technology in the field of distance learning.
It All Starts with Passion
Having a passion for what you do is as essential as recognizing opportunities.
The late Apple founder Steve Jobs became viral when he said these words during Stanford University graduation in 2005: “Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. Everything else is secondary.” In other words, he was telling the graduates to pursue their respective dreams and do it with passion.
In a very demanding corporate environment like Apple, those without the real passion for creating quality tech-products will eventually feel the toll of stress and competition. It even goes beyond liking what one does for a living. One’s drive for business needs to be fueled by a deeper desire not only for the compensation or benefits of it. The real motivation comes from actually producing the product or service that the market wants. Real success, however, is best measured by its ability to create a need among its customers.
For quite some time, computers were bulky closet-like metal boxes that needed high voltages of electricity to run. Visionaries, like Job and his closest rival Bill Gates, had other ideas on how to popularize the computer and make it a part of every home and office in America. With passion, they conquered the entire world with Apple and Windows.
Great leaders also know how to pass on this passion to others. Steve Jobs demonstrated this when he asked the CEO of a giant soft drink company to join him in Apple. Jobs talked Pepsi CEO John Scully to join him by saying these words: “Do you want to sell sugared water for the rest of your life, or do you want to come with me and change the world?”
Start from the Bottom
Knowing one’s company or business inside out is also a wise thing to do. That is especially true for the second or third-generation members of a family business conglomerate. The founders did all the jobs and most of the hard work; the younger generation may enjoy the benefits of their parents’ business success but do not automatically inherit their business acumen.
Ursula Burns, Xerox chairman and CEO, once said that starting from the bottom helped her gain an in-depth understanding of the company. In 1980, she was just an intern helping out by photocopying documents and running errands. By 2009, she was already at the top of the company, steering the business from a paper-related firm into a Fortune 500 tech giant.
Build and Trust Your Team
Jack Ma, the founder of e-commerce behemoth Alibaba, once said that it is vital to take care of one’s team. He also emphasized that being a business leader does not mean they are always right or the best in everything. Good business leaders know they need help and that people who are smarter than the boss are the ones who can help the business grow.
“If you want to manage a team effectively, check your ego at the door. You won’t be the smartest person in the room, but the fact is, you don’t need to be. Instead, focus on what makes your people smart — and then use that to do great work,” said Jack Ma.
These are only some of the principles that have been proven right in the thriving tech industries led by these famous innovators and leaders. There is always more to learn and discover for a businessman or woman looking to level up in the game. For sure, these lessons can be used by everyone to carve their success in business and life.
