(By Buzz Knight) We are at a moment in time that requires incredible strength, intestinal fortitude and ultimate leadership at the highest level. No matter what business you are in, the margin of error can be the difference between success and failure.
Rishad Tobaccowala knows what is necessary to push not only ourselves but our organizations to greatness. He is a Senior Advisor to the Publicis Groupe and he is the author of “Restoring the Soul of Business: Staying Human in the Age of Data”.
His spirit of marketing innovation along with his direct but gentle style makes him the business buddha of our time. His session “Re-inventing Leadership with Heart and Soul” at the Radio Show produced tremendous insights to take back to your various teams and put into action.
One of the points in his speech that I was drawn to was his comment that as things have changed you should embark on an exercise with your teams that does a SWOT(Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities/Threats)analysis of your team, your competitors and of yourself.
What would a personal SWOT look like?
Great leaders know that they can rely on their strengths as an important backbone to success. What characteristics of your strength give you a unique selling point and a competitive advantage?
It is worth pausing to truly think about this.
When you go beyond processes and systems and get to the core of strengths, there are many questions that you should ask about yourself to consider where you rank versus peers.
Just like a competitive SWOT or a full team SWOT you need the “ice in the veins” approach to get to the honest evaluation of your personal SWOT. Where does appreciation of excellence fit into your view of yourself?
Those leaders that have an appreciation for excellence in the moment and value the beauty of tremendous performance, both in the present and the past serve their teams at a higher level.
Courage and tenacity is critical in your personal SWOT analysis because if these factors show up as weaknesses or threats than you and your organization will shrink when a challenge creeps up.
We must consider how organizations value innovation as part of their core philosophy and curiosity plays an important role in that process.
Curiosity may be placed in your personal SWOT in the strength category but it also can be a high value opportunity as well.
Many times when we consider how we “carry” ourselves in a business setting an important trait that hopefully stacks up as a strength in your SWOT is your social intelligence.
This is the important dynamic of knowing what makes people tick, essentially reading the room. Take this aspect of your SWOT very seriously as it can easily be an opportunity for improvement or a threat to your personal brand as well. When personal weaknesses are considered in your SWOT there are many backbones of success that can need long term work to turn around.
For example: your reputation is everything and at it’s core are elements such as: honesty and authenticity that are pillars of leadership characteristics. Perspective is an important trait that hopefully is one of your core strengths as you can see that the individual that possesses this is the person who gives their team wise counsel.
As these are difficult times the leader who has humor as a strength in their personal SWOT can be an incredible asset to their organization. I strongly consider you follow Rishad’s advise and find some quiet time in the day and conduct your personal SWOT.
Buzz Knight is the CEO of Buzz Knight Media and can be reached by e-mail at [email protected]
