Today, more than ever before, MSP business owners need to be exceptional leaders in order to succeed. But what does it take to become an exceptional leader? And how can you ensure that your team is following your lead and producing results? In this post, we’ll explore some of the key traits of exceptional leaders and offer tips on how you can develop them yourself. So read on and learn how you can become the driving force behind your MSP’s success!
“I can predict the long-term outcome of your success if you show me your daily habits.” John Maxwell
You’ve heard the phrase, “you are what you eat.” Here’s a different way to say it: “you are what you repeatedly do.” This is even more important when you’re leading people because they’re going to be a direct reflection of your actions.
“The potential of your leadership is a direct reflection of the quality of your habits.” Craig Groeschel
Here’s a direct example for you to wrap your head around. We began fostering our daughter when she was 9 years old. She moved in and was very skinny, active, and a bubbly, happy little girl. I’m a very sarcastic person and always crack jokes. I would say that I’m serious 25% of the time. I’m also very overweight.
I’m going to make an assumption here that every father should: my daughter idolizes me. She really looks up to me, you know? So there’s no surprise that she may have a super sarcastic tone 90% of the time and has added a couple extra pounds.
There are many leaders (notice I didn’t say successful ones) that think there’s some magical “super-habit” that will make them a great leader. Stop it. This is a myth.
You’ve heard of “cause and effect?” One event can influence the production of another event. If you’re chasing one habit that’s highly difficult to accomplish, there won’t be a positive effect.
Small, wise habits are going to be the best way to make a big impact. Most successful people aren’t great at everything. They’re simply highly disciplined with a several small habits.
“Successful people do consistently what other people do occasionally.” Craig Groeschel
92% of New Year’s Resolutions people set don’t last. Let’s look at three reasons you might not successfully act on those good intentions and how to lead through healthy habits.
It’s great to set goals, but don’t waste time focusing on creating goals without how you’re going to achieve them.
“Goals don’t determine success. Systems determine success.” James Clear
Stop thinking about changing the result. Start focusing on building systems that produce the results.
Here’s the big secret you’ve never thought about: a new habit isn’t going to generate immediate results. In fact, it doesn’t even matter if it’s a good or bad habit! Whether you decide you’re going to workout for 60 minutes every morning, or eat a half gallon of ice cream three nights a week, it’s probably going to take a few weeks for you to start seeing results. Unless you’re diabetic — the ice cream may have a more immediate result if you’re diabetic. 😅
We all have leadership insecurities. I’ve been going through a bout of “imposter syndrome” over the past year. Negative thoughts like this will create a dangerous cycle in which you make poor decisions based on your negative thoughts.
I love examples because they’re going to take what I’ve taught you and make sure you understand how it works in the real world. A while back when I was going through some severe depression, imposter syndrome, and doubting my own self-worth, I stopped marketing the RocketMSP peer groups and haven’t gotten as many new members as I used to. I also stopped developing new resources for my members which resulted in higher church than usual.
Do you see how all of those negative thoughts had some pretty impactful results that ended up hurting my bottom line? Because I didn’t have systems in place to continue providing great content, I stopped marketing because I had doubts about my value. Since I never did anything to fix the problem, I started making less money.
How do you want to be remembered as a leader? Nobody wants to be known as the leader that never developed processes so things always got missed during projects or routine jobs. In contrast, some people want to be the leader that would find people just as passionate or invested and build new leaders.
Do you want to be a leader known for being honest with your team? How about a leader that helps build new leaders? Maybe you’re a leader that’s known for always doing the right thing for your team members and your clients.