Remarkable Leadership
Is your business remarkable?
Are customers willing to pay a premium, make a selection, or spread the word about the value of your business (Seth Godin)?
If you can’t produce evidence to support your answer to this question, your business is probably headed for or already in trouble. You should have a system to track how remarkable your business is in the eyes of your customers, a system to continuously improve how remarkable your business is, and a system to continuously improve how you know what you know.
I’ve got some bad news for you – if your business is not remarkable, it’s most likely because YOU are not remarkable. Do remarkable employees consistently make an effort to come to work for you because of your leadership? Do your employees sing your leadership praises to their most trusted inner circles – their family, friends, and coworkers? If you have to hesitate to answer “yes”, then the real answer those questions is probably “no.”
If you are a remarkable leader, you will attract and retain remarkable employees. If you enable those remarkable employees with remarkable systems to do their jobs with distinction, then those employees will impress the socks off your customers. If you impress the socks off your customers, they will tell others what a remarkable business you have. When your remarkable customers continually spread the word about what a remarkable business you have, your business will prosper.
If you and your business are not remarkable, then you are replaceable. When resources are constrained, the defective languish, the ordinary might survive, but the remarkable thrive.
Wishful thinking will never make you remarkable. You have to be willing to do things your peers are not willing to do, have the wisdom to learn from your mistakes, and the grit to treat the pursuit of remarkability as a marathon and not a sprint.
Related Posts:
Are Your Employees Interesting?
About the Author: Bret L. Simmons
Welcome to my blog! Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section of my posts. I publish all constructive, non-anonymous comments. 
Bret, great post as always yet it hit me right on the head as it gives me an opportunity for a self-check to see if what I have done has created remarkable employees or to realize that I can do a whole lot better to impress the socks of both my internal and external customers. In fact, I know that I have to work harder not only to have a remarkable system but also to fit into it due to my mexican background, and so this has been challenging as much as it has made me thrive. Thank you for sharing this kind of a self-evaluation post with us!
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Bret L. Simmons Reply:
February 21st, 2010 at 6:49 am
I think we all can work harder on this, Javier. Becoming remarkable is a journey, not a destination. Thanks! Bret
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Salient insights Bret. It’s amazing how much our own leadership styles are reflected at all levels of our organizations. If we’re remarkable leaders we will have companies that reflect our efforts.
It very frequently comes down to leaders taking a good look at themselves and making adjustments so that they can grow and inspire and help others do the same. Keep up the great work.
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Bret L. Simmons Reply:
August 17th, 2010 at 4:19 pm
Welcome, Guy! As you correctly point out, being remarkable is a choice that starts with perspective. Not sure about your experience, but I run into too many leaders that are remarkable only in their own minds. Thanks! Bret
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