Supernova Advisor Teams

CHAPTER 4Leadership Styles/Leading the Team

“The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don't play together, the club won't be worth a dime.”

—Babe Ruth

In this chapter, we cover leadership styles. In the sole practitioner model (no team, advisor acting alone), you only needed to be concerned about yourself and your clients. Team leadership, however, requires so much more effort to leverage success; it shouldn't be overwhelming if done right because the benefits and rewards are substantial.

Rationale

You need to understand how these styles can positively or negatively impact your team performance and success.

There is a fundamental difference between leadership and management, based on writings by management consultant and author Peter Drucker.

According to Drucker:

Manager and leader are two completely distinct roles, although we often use the terms interchangeably. Managers are facilitators of their team members' success. They ensure that their people have everything they need to be productive and successful; that they're well‐trained, happy and have minimal roadblocks in their path; that they're being groomed for the next level; that they are recognized for impressive performance and coached through their challenges.¹

Team leaders are de facto managers of significant practices in most cases. Drucker continues:

Conversely, a leader can be anyone on the team who has a talent, who ...