OPINION
Vital lessons learned Business leaders will inevitably interpret – and apply – these lessons in their own ways. As general principles, however, they can help to inform the approach leaders take to motivating their teams, setting strategy, growing and scaling their business, as well as developing themselves. The practice of leadership is a work in progress for everyone, requiring constant commitment and a desire to do better. It can be helpful to look at how other leaders approach challenges, so we can identify opportunities for personal improvement. Business is a tough endeavour, but a little inspiration can go a long way in keeping us going in di cult times. Ultimately, there is no simple recipe to success in business. The people who make it to the top usually work incredibly hard, stay relentlessly focused on their goals and build strong and enduring relationships with others. They are willing to innovate, take risks and learn from their failures. They also commit to self-development and try to be the best version of themselves. No leader is perfect, but by studying the stories of those who have excelled in their field, we can increase our own chances of achieving business success.
of Australian graphic design platform Canva. She was rejected more than 100 times by investors in her quest to raise capital for her business, but she resolved to learn from rejection. So, whenever an investor asked a hard question, or gave a reason for refusing to invest, she would revise her pitch deck to answer the question, or fix the reason for rejection. Perkins describes her determination in the face of adversity as being “like a magical superpower”, saying: “If it were easy, it probably wouldn’t be worth doing.” Be comfortable with failing . Italian entrepreneur Lucrezia Bisignani, based in Kenya, is the founder of educational cartoon company Kukua. She started the business after losing a prestigious competition – a failure that felt like a devastating blow at the time. Looking back on that moment of failure, Bisignani says: “I believe it was all so I could ask myself the next and most important question: Where do I go from here?” Now she believes that failure is an important part of growing and her leadership philosophy is: “If you’re not ready to fail big, you’re not ready to win big.” Remember that life is short – don’t waste it . It is very easy to procrastinate – to put o important things until tomorrow, including the achievement of our dreams. But there’s no guarantee that tomorrow will come, as Sara Blakely, the founder of US shapewear company Spanx, is acutely aware. As a teenager, she saw her best friend run over by a car, right in front of her. She told Forbes magazine that witnessing death at the age of 16 had given her a sense of urgency about life. “The thought of my mortality – I think about it a lot,” she said. “I find it motivating. Your number can be up at any time”.
Sally Percy is an experienced business journalist and editor, specialising in leadership and management. She is the author of 21st Century Business Icons: The Leaders Who Are Changing our World , published by Kogan Page
Ambition NOVEMBER 2023 | 37
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