A Constant Leadership Philosophy

In business, I have found that really, every time is a good time as well as a tough time. When things are bad, they are never as bad as you think, and when they are good, they are never as good as you think. Therefore, leadership cannot change in tough times or good times when, as a growing company, you are constantly trying to excel and be number one. The company must always be in a growth period phase if it is a small company! In order for this to be true, the same management style must apply throughout; the top executives in a company must have a constant leadership philosophy.

In this way, I try to make sure that there is a sense of constancy in my management style. When times are good we must focus on growth, profitability, controlling costs, taking care of the customers and hiring the best employees. When times are tough we must also focus on growth, profitability, controlling costs, taking care of the customers and hiring the best employees . The management style does not change.

There are also several rules that I have in mind as a manager, which follow:

Verify but then delegate, or prune. When hiring new employees one of course must attempt to hire the best. This is not always possible. Often one finds out the true potential of a new employee only after he or she has been on the job for some time. A manager must try to verify the true potential of a new hire as soon as possible. If the employee is capable, delegate all the job responsibilities to the employee as soon as possible and watch them rise up to their true potential. If you are unwilling to delegate, then most likely you hired the wrong person. In this case the wisest thing is to terminate the employment as soon as possible, because neither you nor the employee will be happy. Most of the attempts to redefine job responsibilities or find another job are likely to fail.
Management by Walking Around (MBWA). It is important for a manager to get a pulse of the company on a regular, daily basis. Therefore a manager must not be tied to the office behind close doors. Instead, a manager must walk around in the office, talk to employees at all levels, find out what problems they are facing and what is consuming their time. For a company with many offices, it also requires traveling to the other offices and finding out first-hand what is happening there. This does not mean micro-managing or interfering in the affairs of subordinates . It simply means educating oneself about the problems and challenges of the organization so that the manager can make decisions in the context of reality instead of managing simply by the numbers .
Focus on the big things. A manager must spend most of his time on the largest of issues and challenges. Everything else must be delegated. That is the only way to provide opportunities for growth to subordinates as well as making sure that the major issues and challenges are tackled in manner consistent with the strategy of the company.
Lead by example. A CEO has to be a leader first. He can lead only by pulling and not by pushing. The best way to accomplish this through example.
Communicate with everyone, again and again. Everyone in the company must know the vision, strategy and goals of the company. You cannot simply give these on a piece of paper to all the employees and expect them to believe and follow them. The best way to instill a sense of purpose and mission is to communicate regularly with the employees, restating the vision, mission, and goals again and again, and demonstrating through concrete examples how the management itself is living up to the commitment. It will take some time to sink in, but once it does sink in, these frequent communications will set the tone and the culture of the company.