Serial entrepreneur Mike Michalowicz spent years leading by example through constant teaching and long hours, then realized true leadership meant listening more and working less. By stepping back, he let his team take ownership and achieve better results in less time. Productivity, not hustle, drives business success.
I've owned businesses ever since I turned 23, and over the last couple decades, my leadership style has changed. As I reflect back upon it, I've gone from more to less in two categories. When I first had my businesses, I thought I had to speak more, teach more, that it was always about me giving input. But now I've discovered it's about speaking less and listening more. There is much more guidance and support you can provide for colleagues when you fully understand what they need, and often they have the better solution than you do. I also thought it was about working more. You have to demonstrate through your behavior, your work ethic, what you expect of others. If you work extraordinary hours, then you can expect the same of others. I found that is a mentality toward time for money, that we simply just work more and more to make more money. But I found that a good business is more efficient, more effective in its utilization of your time as a leader, but everyone's time. It's about doing more with less time. So I found that actually working less in the business inspires my colleagues to get more done in less time. It's not about grinding it out, it's not about the hustle, it's about the productivity and the results we can get in compressed time. It's about picking and doing the right things. And also, as I'm less available, I insert myself less in the business, they, my colleagues, have become more empowered to lead the business. I invite you to listen more and do less, and have your colleagues do less but bring greater results with the less they do. I think that's better leadership.
