The best leadership advice and tips from the nation’s top CEOs

Your business may be small, but your dreams can be big. The key to succeeding on a large scale is having the right leadership tactics that motivate and empower your team members. 

Thinking like a big business owner is a great way to manifest your vision on a larger scale. Utilize the mindsets of the most successful entrepreneurs to set your team, and your business as a whole, up for success. 

Dan Schulman

Dan Schulman, CEO of PayPal, stresses the importance of giving credit to your team when it’s​​ due. “Giving credit to others actually attracts more and more people to your team because they want to be a part of that team,” he said in a Business Insider podcast. 

Schulman also touts hope as a driving force for motivating employees. 

“In many ways, leadership is about defining reality and inspiring hope, but if you have these great people around you and they know that what they do is going to be recognized, it can be incredibly powerful,” he said. 

Take this point of view and implement it into your business by building a culture where your team is excited to work together and contribute. When they succeed, give them the credit instead of taking it for yourself. 

Tip: Homebase gives you the chance to send Shout Outs to your team for a job well done—right from the app!

Bill Gates

Microsoft’s CEO, Bill Gates, is worth more than $131 billion, and Microsoft earns approximately $143 billion each year. Bill Gates has more of a collaborative leadership style because he learned to delegate properly to optimize productivity and use everyone’s strengths. 

“If you want to have an impact, usually, delegation is important,” Gates said in a 2018 Q&A session at Harvard. “Picking what you’re good at and how you find the other people to fill in those things, that’s super important,” Gates said.

Additionally, Gates believes in building up his team to help them achieve their goals. “As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others,” he said. 

You can empower your team by putting their needs first, supporting them through any personal issues they may have, and encouraging them to take mental health days. 

Jeff Weiner 

LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner has a 97% employee approval rate and has developed a reputation of being a beloved leader. While he too follows the above tactics of motivating and empowering employees, he also focuses on bringing up his team’s morale during the struggles. 

When LinkedIn’s stock dropped by 40% in 2016, he reassured his team with an inspiring memo: 

“We are the same company we were the day before our earnings announcement. I’m the same CEO I was the day before our earnings announcement,” the memo said. “You’re the same team you were the day before our earnings announcement. And most importantly, we have the same mission, vision, and sense of purpose in terms of our ability to create economic opportunity. None of that has changed. It hasn’t changed one iota.”

While it’s incredibly important to highlight the achievements, it’s equally as important to inspire your employees when low moments occur. You’ll make your team feel trusted and motivated to get back on the horse and power through. 

Mark Zuckerberg

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook,  believes that employees should be passionate about their work. He focuses on hiring people who fit the company culture instead of only those with all the necessary skills. 

 “Skills can be taught, passion can’t,” Zuckerberg said. The Facebook hiring process reflects that sentiment. Once employees are chosen based on their passion and culture fit, they are then placed in an intensive training program that helps them gain the skills required for the job. 

Just because a candidate checks all the boxes in terms of experience doesn’t mean they’ll be right for your team. Take your culture into consideration. You can teach a person tasks, but you can’t change their personality. Your existing employees will appreciate your focus on bringing in new people who will work well with the team.  

Need help leading your team? Homebase provides plenty of tools geared toward improving employee communication, optimizing the hiring process, and more. Sign up today!