Key Attributes of a Successful Director
As part of Fistral’s 21st anniversary year, we’ve asked the Directors to share their thoughts and experiences on a variety of business-related issues. In the ninth of the series, we asked what attributes they thought comprised a successful company Director.
For the latest article in our 21st anniversary Top Tips series we asked our Directors:
“What are the key attributes of a Director?”
In the Fistral Director’s opinions, key attributes should be:
- Honesty – With customers, staff, the tax-man and yourself.
- Self – and Product – Awareness – Know the things you and your business are good at and, most especially, the things you are NOT good at.
- Recruitment Skills – Employ the right people to do the things that you can’t do, trust the people you work with, and be prepared to delegate.
- Realistic – Be realistic in your expectations and targets for the business, set small targets to celebrate wins on an ongoing basis – not just when you reach your £50mill turnover; and also be realistic in what you can physically and mentally achieve without burn-out.
- Customer Focused – Always be attentive to the customer. Listen to what they need and understand the strengths and weaknesses of your business in relation to this.
- Family Focused – Remember that your family are your best support. Three weeks holiday throughout the year (ideally two consecutive weeks) is a must. No interruptions: leave the mobile phone and the laptop at home.
- And of course, Hard Working – Be prepared to work hard: “no pain, no gain”, and “Rome wasn’t built in a day”. And when things get successful, be prepared to play hard too…