Ashton Ward, managing partner of AESC member firm Eton Bridge Partners, believes that culture within a business is the key to success.

Directing the strategy and satisfying shareholders are essential responsibilities of any CEO, however in my experience the culture, driven by the right values and behaviors should be at the top of the list.

“Clients do not come first. Employees come first. Look after your employees and they will look after your clients.” Richard Branson.

Change cultures through changing behaviors

When discussing cultural differences, we tend to think in terms of national culture. Culture, however, goes beyond nationality and is referred to as “the pattern of beliefs, behaviors, and values maintained by groups of interacting people.” (Milton J. Bennett, Ph.D). This implies that there are several types of culture: regional, gender, religion, professional, corporate and generational.

Whether supervising people or projects, leadership is not only time consuming but can be mentally and emotionally taxing. Navigating difficult situations, working with strong personalities or balancing life and work, being a leader isn’t just a 9-5 job. It requires well-honed skills (sometimes new ones), discernment, decisiveness and the ability to act under pressure.

CTOs & tech executives are critical to any business, and as our digital world evolves, their skills and the value of their team increases. The team is needed to manage cybersecurity, maintain the website, and build new product features (among dozens of other tasks), all while leaders are trying to build and run a successful team, manage expectations, maintain tight budgets and so much more.

Leadership is as evergreen a topic as it gets! During a bout of team coaching visits recently, I created a compendium of qualities to start off our conversations as a team. Here is the list to help inspire you and your team: 

Being a leader is hard. If you struggle in a position where you’re affecting change, making decisions, and managing employees, learn from those who are already doing it well. Instead of harping on yourself, or running away from a great position, use these executive leadership ideas to get better.

With each task you delegate, every employee you empower, and each moment of self-reflection, you’ll find yourself becoming the leader you always knew you could be.

Hone Your Emotional Intelligence

Leadership has been defined as the process by which an individual influences a group and directs the group toward a specific goal or mission. Great leaders lead by example, possess strong communication skills and have both the trust and respect of their employees. True leaders inspire people to live the vision, mission and values of their organization while simultaneously empowering people to make decisions and contribute ideas.

A recent survey of executives about traits needed to succeed as an executive highlighted leadership skills as the most commonly cited one. While there are several definitions of leadership skills (pray, who doesn’t have a say on his or her own interpretation of leadership) with encompassing factors such as communication, motivation and strategic orientation, a pragmatic denotation which I picked up from a mentor is the impact you have on the people around you.

For managers across the spectrum, the Millennial generation work force is growing in numbers. Forbes suggests that 80% of hiring managers have a view their Millennial employees have narcissistic tendencies, but that this may stem from different generations not understanding each other and their thought place of what a workplace should be. Traditional team based management structures are under threat by an evolution in work environments.

As a hiring manager or talent acquisition consultant, losing a candidate to a counteroffer is a killer. Picture this…