A great leader is not born overnight. The skill of leadership is a mesh of other factors: with experience as the foundation, layered with dedication and assertion, and topped with heaps of training. Aside from years of being on the job, young aspirants can take business trade courses that target leadership and management training to upgrade themselves.
Only through years of learning and development can a leader create his own unique styles and strategies. Leadership strategies are proof that there’s no one way to do business. To brave the entrepreneurial waters, you must know your strengths and weaknesses and change your strokes accordingly.
Here are three notable leaders who created memorable brands by developing their own leadership strategy and stuck to it.
Reed Hastings of Netflix: Lead the Team Through the Flow
Netflix did what Blockbuster couldn’t: go with the flow.
Going with the flow doesn’t have to mean willful surrender to the currents. To go with the flow and still reach your destination, you should be adaptable and quick on your feet.
Blockbuster and Netflix picked an industry where the waters are always changing. Video rental has changed a lot since Blockbuster was founded in the 80s. It set the bar and was way ahead of the competition in both home movies and video games.
It retained its power at the turn of the century. “Blockbuster [was] a thousand times our size,” Reed Hastings admitted in the early 2000s. As a David to a massive Goliath, Hastings thought the current was too strong. To stay alive, he had to adjust to the conditions. The company thought of bowing down from the competition, a difficult decision they came to after assessing and observing the environment.
Hastings, together with Netflix co-founder Marc Randolph and CFO Barry McCarthy, went to the Blockbuster headquarters and offered Netflix for $50 million. But Blockbuster CEO John Antioco turned them down.
Eventually, everything was no longer the same. One technology at a time, the world changed. Consumer behavior then changed. This was when Hastings’ adaptable perspective was put to good use. Blockbuster, on the other hand, was stuck and resisted changing itself for the new era.
Netflix was able to reinvent itself to keep up with the changing technology and market preferences. It embodies evolution, constantly branching out its services. Its most recent adaptation, becoming a production company, expands its range. With its own content, from film, series, to documentaries, Netflix remains relevant even as new streaming sites are born.
Hastings’ adaptability translates to his futuristic perspectives. He embraces technology and what it could become. In the 80s, he completed a degree in artificial intelligence, which was only starting at the time.
His adaptability can also be seen in the flexible working culture he has fostered. Flexibility differs a boss from a leader. By being flexible, Netflix leads employees “with context, not control,” as Hastings puts it in the book, “No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention.”
Steve Jobs of Apple: Always Put on a Show
Steve Jobs is a master showman, which makes for a great leader. You can’t force people to follow you. They have to do it at their will. By exuding charm and wit, people will inevitably be drawn to what you have to say.
Jobs presented stories, not mere presentations. He respected the stage and made sure he crafted a performance. While in his late twenties, his refusal to rehearse earned him an infamous reputation for being a “capricious speaker,” he later perfected his art upon his return to Apple in 1997.
His talks after the reinvention of Apple are a product of script edits and tons of rehearsals. It may look effortless, but that’s only because much effort was already put behind the scenes. From 1997 to 2011, he unveiled new products four to seven times a year.
It was also helpful that he created a costume: his signature glasses and a turtleneck sweater tucked over a pair of denim pants. This made him recognizable, which translated to his brand’s distinction. Simply put, he put a face on the brand. Likewise, it made him an inspiration among employees, rather than merely being seen as the boss.
Elon Musk of Tesla: Push Innovation to the Limits
Musk is highly regarded in the tech community and has even been dubbed as the “Thomas Edison of the 21st century.” Likewise, Tesla, Musk’s brainchild, has become synonymous with innovation.
Musk leads by showing the way. His innovations are changing the world as we know it. Some of his best works are the Tesla electric cars, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, and location-based searching, limiting your search results within your geographic area.
He exemplifies a bold leader and pushes the employees to adopt the same thinking. He is known for thinking through the First Principles approach, which involves boiling down a process into its fundamentals, which you are certain to be proven and true. Once you know these fundamental first principles, you build your way up from there. This creative approach is what he imparts in his employees and pushes them to explore more solutions.
Developing Your Style Along the Way
Hastings, Jobs, and Tesla show how different each leadership strategy can be. But they share a common ground: by staying authentic and being receptive to your audience.