You Are Your Business

by Darcy G. Shenfield

When business owners and CEO’s of all shapes and sizes of organizations think about growing, they often miss the company’s largest influence, themselves.

Owners commonly think about how to attract more customers, cut costs, and increase margins. While these all make perfect sense, what about the origin of those ideas? The ideas and their implementation are largely coming from the same source, senior management.

So, if your business reflects who you are, then let’s make sure all of you is available and engaged.

The first step is awareness: You need to be fully aware of all of who you are, what fulfills you, gets you excited, and makes you want to jump out of bed in the morning to tackle each new day.

Once this is known, written down, and thought through, you can devise a plan to ensure engagement in everything that lights you up and further increases motivation.

It’s not enough to be aware of who you are in a timeless sense. You also need to be keenly aware of what is important to you, at this moment, at this stage of life, at this age. Getting these in writing, and then prioritizing them, adds another large fuel tank of motivation.

The second step is action: By action, I mean two things. Action in terms of being, or having an attitude, that is in alignment with who you are and what’s important to you. As well as action in terms of doing, making it happen, bringing yourself forward, engaged and fully alive in your business.

This may seem obvious, or simple, but it is neither. We’re all aligned and lit up with how we are being and what we’re doing some of the time. However, wildly successful entrepreneurs and senior leaders are lit up and operating at their truest almost all the time, which happens to be their most productive place.

That is what we call Authentic Leadership.

Next time you’re looking to give your business a jolt, consider starting with you. As the success of both you and your business are inextricably linked.

Not sure where to start? Our Authenticity Academy workshops set out actionable frameworks for your ultimate success. Learn more here.