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Through my work with educational think tanks the SEC and the APFC who are investors in the future of young students, I am often charged with helping to give securities to young people around what kind of career they could achieve. One of the most popular career choices which students tell me that they would like to aim for is to become the President, CEO or director of a huge company and surprisingly, when asked, many of them would exchange any natural talent that they have in other areas to achieve this goal. I spoke with Larry Polhill Cafe Valley CEO to find out just what skills are needed in a business leader, if this is something that you have dreamed of, here is what you will need to possess.
Drive and Passion
The absolute bedrock of the character of a strong business leader is drive, hard work and passion and without these characteristics you simply will not make the grade. If you want to really reach the dizzying levels of success of being a business leader then you need all out commitment and passion towards what you do.
Sacrifice
Those who are wishing to one day become business leaders need to make many sacrifices throughout their lives in order to attain the position that they are looking for. If you ask any successful business leader they will tell you just how many nights out and vacations that they spurned in order to focus on business, how much spending they refused to do in order to put their money towards their success. These are just some of the sacrifices that you will need to make in order to get to the position of being a successful business leader.
Personal Skills
People who become leaders in business are not those with draconian styles and in fact they must be highly skilled when it comes to dealing with people. Whether you are dealing with a chief exec, a member of your team or a customer, you must have a certain likability that instills trust and respect from the outset. If you do not have these people skills then you need to work on them quickly so that you can one day become not just successful in business, but become a real leader.
Optimism and Confidence
Business leaders are always looking to the future with positivity, when they face adversity they look upon it as a challenge and not a failing and they do so with confidence. The level of confidence that you need to have in order to form a career as a business leader is extremely important and whilst a lot of this confidence will come from the experience which you get throughout your career, you must have some instilled in you from the outset if you wish to one day climb the ranks and become a leader in your field.
