The Advantages Of Leadership Skills, Even When You're Self Employed

One of the most underdeveloped, underused and underappreciated skills in the business world is that skill, that elusive skill, leadership. Leadership is such a broad and vague term that many people misrepresented when they say it, and even those who purport to be experts on the subject tend to disseminate information about leadership to the general public in a way that is completely irrelevant to the everyday lives of the average citizen, especially the average citizen who is self-employed or wishes to be.

It is no secret that especially in the United States, the country balances its hopes and dreams, as well as its tax burdens, on the backs of the self-employed people and the small business.
It is therefore highly important that this class of people the very well-versed in the nature of leadership, when it comes to business and economics. It is a self-employed person who faces the largest tax burden of any business class in the nation, and it is the small business person who faces the greatest risk when it comes to dealing with economics in the business class. Often lenders who say that they are for small businesses give them the worst terms when it comes to giving money, and the government definitely does self-employed people and small businessmen no favors when it comes time to collect on taxes every April.

With this in mind, to fully enjoy the benefits of the American dream and the luxuries of freedom from owning one's own business, the concept of leadership cannot be a concept that is misrepresented. The advantages of true leadership skills are quite evident in the recent weight of the Great Recession, as those who did not have these leadership skills and abundance were quickly downsized by the overall economy. Those who did have true leadership skills were able to weather the storm and even thrive in the negative economic and business environment.

There is no way to discuss true leadership skills without going through a list of what this actually entails. Below are some of the things that successful self-employed people and small businessmen have shown to be as leadership skills throughout the years.

– The ability to manage a group

What most people do not realize is that managing a group does not mean giving orders. Delegating is not the same as ordering, and delegates are much more likely to have a long-term staff of loyal employees than are "executives" who give down orders from somewhere on high. This distinction is essential to learning to manage a group of people and maintain a small business.

– The ability to keep clients

This requires leadership ability as well. Clients come to you for leadership in your area of expertise, not to be "served." Therefore, one of the tenets of true leadership is the ability to guide someone in a polite way to your desired outcome, which is also their desired outcome, even though they will be fighting you the entire way. True leadership is having confidence in your ability to solve other people's problems, even when they are uncertain of that outcome.

Isaac writes for DLProg a Non Governmental Organisation who specialise in addressing the important gap in international thinking and policy about the critical role played by leaders, elites and coalitions in the politics of development. Read DLProg's developmental research papers or learn about the leadership development program at DLProg.org