10 Ways to be a down to earth boss who reaches the top
Being the boss is not all about acting bossy. By staying humble, caring and being willing to learn you could be paving a more solid path to success.
General manager at Buco, Pottie Potgieter, shared his top 10 lessons in business with Bring Change Lowveld winner Lizelle Grobler.
1. Reading people is important
If you cannot read people, it will be very difficult to choose the right ones, managing them effectively, support them and train them.
2. Notice things around you
Be very observant, especially when meeting someone for the first time. Noticing the little things can give you a better indication of who the person is and whether they are right for the job or your company.
3. Be a mentor
Sharing knowledge and experience is a privilege and it is important to give back to the younger generation by being a mentor to them. Make sure that you pick one or two young people around you and try to give them the opportunities that you never had.
4. Always be ethical in business
Having good manners and treating everyone, from the cleaner to the CEO, with respect is a must. Being ethical means doing business in an honest, respectful manner. If you have this, you will never have to look over your shoulder.
5. Stay humble
Being the boss or the manager does not make you better than anyone else. It just means that your duties are different from theirs. If you stay humble and know that everything you have is a gift, people will love being around you.
6. Remember the people that you cross paths with
Remember people’s faces and names. It will make them feel important and will mean that your first meeting with them means something to you. I once met Anton Rupert and when our paths crossed again, he remembered my name and who I was. This says a lot about his character.
7. Always be willing to learn
You can never know everything and the best ways to learn is to accept that there are still many things in life that people can teach you. It is only a fool who thinks he knows it all. Be open and willing to learn but also teach what you learned to others.
8. Be content
The only way to be truly happy is to accept and love who you are. It is always good to have goals in life, but if you always want more, you will be chasing happiness for the rest of your life and never find it.
9. Use every mountain to grow
Life is not always easy and bad things happen to good people. But if you can take the time to try and find something good in every bad situation, you will learn something from every obstacle. It will make you a stronger person when you are able to learn from the bad things in life.
10. Live a full life
Live without regrets and learn to be happy, to laugh, to love and to take the good with the bad.
Lizelle’s feedback on the session
It has been such a pleasure to meet Pottie, and experience his energy. He lives life to the fullest, and respects people. He truly understands my passion for people and how important it is in business to look at the person, and not just see a number.
We share so many similarities in the way we look at life and business and I believe that our journey together in business has just started. Through this mentoring process I have met so many amazing people, and even made a few more friends!
Be the 2018 Bring Change Lowveld Winner!
You too can benefit from learning the tricks of the trade from 10 of the best mentors in the business. Each mentor session will not just benefit you, but will be shared with the greater Lowveld community through Lowvelder.co.za
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