Action Has No Season 2.0

A core competency for the Actionaire is the ability to make good decisions or lead a good decision-making process. There are better and worse ways to make decisions and a good manager or entrepreneur understands when to make a decision, when to consult subordinates or peers and bring them into the decision-making process, and when it’s time to step back and let others decide. Experience and evaluating when decisions resulted in either succeeding or failing is the best way to develop these skills. Actionaires and independent business persons learn more from their mistakes than from their successes. One of the best predictors of effective leadership is one’s Social Intelligence. However, it can be misunderstood or delayed by your personal evaluation. Social Intelligence is very broad, but can best be viewed in terms of evaluating social situations and dynamics, and ability to operate effectively in a variety of social and business situations. I see this Social Intelligence as defined by many social performances and sensitivity to social situations. Social Intelligence is the ability to understand social situations, to play social roles, and to influence others. It involves being able to see others' perspectives and to understand the complex and abstract social norms, or informal "rules" that govern all types of social situations. Social Intelligence is what some refer to as "street smarts" or "everyday intelligence”. The Actionaire believes Social Intelligence may be the most important type of intelligence for leaders. How does this relate to those of you in or aspiring to leadership positions? The good news is that this form of intelligence is pliable. It can be developed. This relates to interpersonal skills, and the more you develop your interpersonal or people skills, the more you will enhance your Emotional and Social Intelligences. These are critically important for an Actionaire to be an effective leader. This is a skill that can be developed. You must expose yourself to different people, different social situations, and work to develop your social perceptiveness and ability to engage others in conversation. In my first book, Action Has No Season: Strategies and Secrets to Gaining Wealth and Authority, I refer to the value of “small talk” which I now call “Emotional Intelligence Conversations”. Also, practice “studying” others’ nonverbal signals, particularly signs of emotion. Learn to regulate and control your emotions and your emotional outbursts. Rehearse expressing feelings and become an effective emotional “character”. In other words, learn how to express emotions appropriately. Social and Emotional Intelligence is the ability to communicate with others at an emotional level, to use emotions to help guide the decision making process. The goal is to be able to regulate emotions and possessing knowledge through the emotional processes. This Emotional Intelligence relates to leadership to some extent. It is important for creating good relationships between the Actionaire and their followers. Charismatic leaders have an extraordinary ability to communicate at the emotional level. Note, however, the use of Emotional Intelligence within the Actionaire is significant but small. Interpersonal skills could be defined as a subset of Social Intelligence, but these are the more relationship-oriented aspects of social effectiveness. The Actionaire has viewed these as their “quiet skills”. They are best represented by interpersonal skills. The best way to develop these interpersonal skills is by becoming a silent listener. You should at the same time perfect your speaking and conversational techniques. Practice with your family, friends, and close associates. You will find that these same skills will materialize into your entrepreneurial relationships. Developing wisdom is a great virtue. But how is it acquired? It comes from being able to see other’s perspectives and through being open to and considering others’ points of view. Listen to others. Work to be more open and broader minded. Learn to ask for others’ opinions and consider them as you choose a business direction. All leaders should have prudence or wisdom. Prudence involves gathering evidence, consulting with others, being objective and reflective before deciding on a course of action. It is particularly important for Actionaires to consult with knowledgeable managers and others. This is involving them in the decision process. This leads to greater acceptance of the decisions. The Actionaire has fortitude or courage. This is having the courage to take calculated risks, having the courage to stand up for what you believe, and doing the right thing. This takes some effort, but the results are rooted in its development. You must however, hold on to your strong personal values. If you truly value something or someone you will have the courage to stand by your principles. You must work with virtues and how they relate to both ethical and effective leadership. A good leader must be courageous and simply staying the course in an evolving business environment is not courageous. Effective leaders need to be bold. In our rapidly changing world, organizations need to innovate and keep up. Simply staying the course means that you will likely fall behind. Moderation is a virtue and it involves controlling one's emotions and "appetites". It is lack of moderation or temperance that gets many leaders into trouble. Temperance leads to humility. This is a quality found in the very best Actionaires. Temperance helps leaders admit when they've made mistakes and work to correct them. Being honest in your dealings or creating integrity involves being fair in leading and in dealing with others. Actionaires should not only treat everyone fairly, but they should not put their own gains over those of others. A higher order of skill relates to conflict management that involves helping associates avoid or resolve interpersonal conflicts. Actionaires are often called upon to mediate when conflicts arise. This involves having the ability to either avoid or resolve your own conflict situations. The largest part of helping conflicting parties is to find a compromise that each party agrees with. This means finding a win-win outcome which will require each party to be flexible and give up something to finalize the conflict.