In business, people look up to CEOs who pursue purpose over profit. This article will provide five strategies for business leaders that focus more on exemplifying responsible leadership to radiate company purpose.
Amidst global issues, business leaders should continue to strengthen their efforts to empower and reassure stakeholders. Here are some guides provided by the World Economic Forum (WEF) and Accenture on how to be an effective business leader in today’s new normal.
Consider your stakeholders
In decision makings, always consider your stakeholders (employees, business partners, customers, and the public). Being a responsible leader does not only focus on pleasing the stakeholders when creating decisions. Experts recommend to seek industry organizations that you can participate in to widen stakeholder inclusion.
Further, Affectiva, a tech company, that aims to help organizations, academy, and non-profit businesses to come up with standards for the deployment of build artificial intelligence (AI). This initiative aims to connect stakeholders despite that they do not collaborate often but can generate decisions that have greater impacts.
Focus and align your decisions on your mission and purpose
Apart from considering your stakeholders, make your company’s mission and purpose as your guide when making decisions. As Simon Sinek, author of Start With Why imparted that your purpose is clear because this will not only make you successful but more importantly, will impact the lives of others.
“Once businesses know their purpose, they can easily determine how to communicate their motives and it is through their products and services they radiate theirs why. Thus, determining “why” is powerful for businesses and organizations nowadays,” as cited in the article The Golden Circle of Simon Sinek.
Consider emotions
To embrace emotions is one of the strategies for business leaders to consider. Responsible leadership also captures people’s emotions. According to Affectiva, before attaining technological solutions, it is important to prioritize emotional intelligence.
Empathy is vital in making decisions. Effective business leaders look after their people than yielding more profit. In today’s pandemic, a lot of companies imparted their help to their communities.
Prioritize technology and innovations
The new normal brought about by the pandemic enables companies to pivot and adapt to digital transformation. Business leaders were able to appreciate to do less but achieve more things brought by technology and innovations.
However, before you consider technological solutions, as a responsible leader, always go back to the first strategy. Do not forget to attain the buy-in from your stakeholders. At the end of the day, if these technologies do not address your business problems, you are just wasting your resources.
Continue learning
Today’s business leaders seek to learn more. They recognize that they do not possess all the information that will solve the struggles of their businesses.
Respectively, do not only focus on the things you can learn alone. Ideas can be generated from the people around you specifically with your employees.
“Don’t be afraid to look outside of the “traditional” job requirements, and consider a candidate with a slightly different background. Affectiva has also been able to broaden our intellect through internships and education programs,” RANA EL KALIOUBY, CEO of Affectiva, stated.
“Each year, we hire a diverse group of trainees that represent all education levels (high school through graduate students) and different areas of expertise. Not only does this help us expand our views, but it also gives us a chance to give back by developing the next generation of leaders in our industry,” she added.
