Having seen so many changes occur in the market and workforce in recent years, smart business leaders are focused on honing their leadership skills to ensure their companies remain relevant and continue to grow sustainably. Entrepreneurs, in particular, can learn a great deal by looking at broader industry trends to determine which skills they need to learn or brush up on.
Certain skills have become must-haves, and developing these abilities can help business owners make the most of their entrepreneurial endeavors. Here, 15 Forbes Coaches Council members share essential leadership skills they believe every entrepreneur should cultivate in 2023, and why.
Members pictured from left to right.
Photos courtesy of the individual members.1. Managing Change And Influence Remotely
Remote work is here to stay in some form or another. The ability to provide remote teams with clarity and focus on what needs to be achieved, engaging them around the company’s vision and goals, is a crucial skill for entrepreneurs to master if they are going to scale their businesses effectively over the next few years. - Angela Sedran, The Business Growth Accelerator
2. Viewing All Situations As Learning Opportunities
Next to “that’s the way we’ve always done it,” “I’ve heard that before” has to be the most dangerous phrase for every leader. It’s much better to ask, “How well do I do that?” The skill of being curious, looking at every situation with fresh eyes and seeing it as an opportunity to learn and grow, is one that serves every leader, no matter the industry or where they are in their journey. - Lorna Weston-Smyth, LWS Coaching and Training
3. Maintaining A Growth Mindset
How can you succeed at adaptation and evolve if you don’t accept that mistakes will be made? How do you grow your EQ and become more empathetic or learn to manage hybrid teams if you’re not willing to step out of your comfort zone, stumble a few times and then learn from your mistakes? We’re all operating in a foreign, never-normal environment. A growth mindset is essential. - Ira Wolfe, Poised for the Future Company
4. Being Future-Focused
To lead, you need to know where you are going. In the ever-increasingly competitive market, leaders must focus more on shaping the company’s future, not only on day-to-day operations. The key here is to learn from the competition, identify opportunities and set ambitious goals regularly. The future of your company depends on it! - Lusia Moskvicheva, The Happy Life Strategist
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5. Being Clear And Direct
Cutting through the noise has become even more essential in a world where we are flooded with messaging about just about everything. Often, entrepreneurs are new to their leadership roles. They are brilliant inventors, but they are novices when it comes to building a culture and leading at the top. Leaders who start with the headlines and convey the hard stuff with clarity and focus build trust. - Karyn Gallant, Gallant Consulting Group
6. Facilitating Growth And Change
A critical leadership skill is being an effective facilitator of growth and change. Facilitate teams to optimize execution, rather than directing people to get things done in silos, which results in breakdowns. In addition, facilitate business-critical thinking so that others solve problems more effectively and make good decisions. This is done by asking key questions—a critical facilitation competency. - Mark Samuel, IMPAQ Corporation
7. Being Flexible, And Taking Risks
Flexibility is the name of the game in today’s VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) world. The economy is rapidly changing—are we in a recession, or aren’t we? Who cares! What are you doing today that meets today’s needs and circumstances? You have to be willing to change rapidly and take risks. But don’t go it alone; bounce ideas off your coach, your team and the person who almost always disagrees with you. - Gregg Ward, The Center for Respectful Leadership
8. Differentiating Your Leadership
The skill of leadership differentiation—the ability to identify, champion and execute the most promising of initiatives, the impact of which will set one apart—is an increasingly in-demand skill. It is critical for entrepreneurs to hone this skill in order to remain competitive in their industry. - Karan Rhodes, Shockingly Different Leadership (SDL)
9. Collaborating And Partnering With Others
Collaboration and partnering abilities are central to leading effectively in an ecosystem. Leading through collaboration builds a strong team and, as a byproduct, integrates diverse perspectives. Learning deeply about customers’ needs and building collaborative solutions to meet those needs is how purpose-driven companies design sustainable success. - Jessica Hartung, Treelight Leadership
10. Managing Conflict
Most leaders I encounter struggle deeply with managing conflict. Some are avoidant, while others lack essential skills. Regardless, this skill has become equally or more important in our hybrid and remote work environments, as relationships are already compromised—meaning friction is more likely to occur—and the work (and any commitment to one’s employer) is more transactional. - Candice Gottlieb-Clark, Dynamic Team Solutions
11. Staying Sincerely Curious
Curiosity is the precursor to the questions that inform new directions, precipitate new ideas and keep a leader in tune with the mentality, morale and motivation of their team. Sincere curiosity is at the very core of empathy and provides the human connection necessary to be an authentic and effective leader. - Jim Vaselopulos, Rafti Advisors, LLC
12. Learning How To Learn
The skill of learning how to learn has become the most important skill in recent years, as the only way to get ahead is to continually upgrade your knowledge and skills as a leader and expert in your respective industry. The faster a leader can find, sort through, absorb and deliver the needed information, the sooner they will achieve the success they desire. - Masha Malka, The One Minute Coach Corp.
13. Leading With Purpose
Being an entrepreneur is more challenging than ever. You’re expected to be everything at the same time—a manager, a leader, a negotiator, a financial ace and, of course, physically fit and mentally stable. Knowing and sharing your purpose with vision, clarity and assertiveness will create the conditions for success for you and your stakeholders. - Krumma Jónsdóttir, Positive Performances
14. Cultivating An Innovative Mindset
Innovation is a driving force across all industries. For an entrepreneur, cultivating an innovative mindset is essential. Innovation will become the catalyst for creative problem solving, taking risks and implementing new ideas. Innovation is both conceptual and perceptual. Innovative ideas will differentiate you from your competitors and lead to a culture of creative thinking. - Dr. Sharon H. Porter, Vision & Purpose LifeStyle Magazine and Media
15. Developing Leadership Well-Being
Developing leadership well-being improves decision making, decreases stress and elevates creativity. Thanks to increasing levels of socioeconomic uncertainty and radically compounding change, workplace well-being is no longer negotiable, yet it is often misunderstood. Well-being is quite simple to cultivate, and the results are dramatically positive for those seeking a competitive edge. - Erin Urban, UPPSolutions, LLC
