How to Be the Best Leader You Can Be…

Leading people is not something that everyone can do instinctively. I talked with the following former IBA chairs to get their opinions on the most important skills needed to be a successful leader:

• Dave Heeter (2014 chair) said communication and listening skills, including being a team builder, were at the top of his list.
• Larry Myers (2015) talked about being a visionary, being a good listener, having compassion, being decisive and being a team builder.
• Lucas White (2020) believes leaders should delegate and give people room to make mistakes, which is how they learn. He also thinks that leaders should ask people what they would do.
• My last call was to Mike Zahn (2021). His first response was … the important quality is height! After I quit laughing and he got more serious, Mike indicated that good communication skills are imperative, which include listening first. He also thinks being a team builder is important.

I agree with all of the skills and qualities that have been expressed. These leaders – who are pretty good, by the way – have a lot in common in what they believe makes a good leader, but they go about leading in different manners.

When I look back at my career and the different bosses that I’ve had, they incorporated different leadership styles to get the job done. I have had bosses who would work beside you to take care of customers and who would work late with you to get a project completed. I’ve also had bosses who were micromanagers and intimidators. From all those experiences, I’ve taken away some of the following key principles that I apply today:

• Develop an effective communication style.
• Be an active listener.
• Be a team builder.
• Express empathy and consideration.
• Show your team that you will work as hard as they do by coming in early and staying late.

Leaders share the same values and principles, but execute them differently. These characteristics are not new and certainly not rocket science, but are good fundamentals to put you on the path to being a successful leader. Leadership begins with you, and how you lead is a choice. Use your qualities that are best suited for the situation and your team members to achieve the optimal result. Great leaders teach, motivate and mentor their team members to be the best that they can be.

So, the bottom line on leaders is that one size does not fit all. There are a lot of similarities among leaders, but how they lead is different for each. You need to find your own style and develop it to make you and your team members effective and successful. This is what the leaders I talked to did, and they became IBA chairs.
 

This Month's Guest Writer

Garry D. Kleer
Chairman, President and CEO
First Bank Richmond

2022 IBA Chairman