One factor will define your success as a leader, no matter how you became a leader or how many people you lead. Every leader is judged on their decisions. As an insurance agency owner, making business decisions will be your most difficult and most important duty. How you make those decisions will be key to your success.
Family
You may not realize it, but the people who are closest to you have a significant effect on your decision-making. They also have a big stake in the decisions you make. This stake is obvious when you’re deciding on when to retire, but they’re actually involved in every single decision. When making business decisions like taking on a shareholder or opening a new line of business, you affect the future of the agency. Anything that affects the agency also affects your family.
You might not discuss these decisions with your family. You might have a rule about keeping business matters separate. Your family influences your decision making process simply by relying on you for income. When your gut tells you what to do when making a business decision; that might really be your family talking.
Peers
You are more likely to discuss your decisions directly with your peers. In most cases, there will be one confidant who helps you to brainstorm. That person may be a colleague or a friend. They may not have a direct stake in your business, but they probably have a lot of influence over it. This advisor is so useful because they have your trust. You can ask them for an opinion and get an honest answer.
Making business decisions without bouncing ideas off of a trusted sounding board can be dangerous. It’s too easy to fall into the trap of making personal decisions rather than business decisions. A strong colleague or friend keeps you on the straight and narrow.
Financial Advisors
It’s vital to have someone you can trust to help you to make your big business decisions. That trust doesn’t always qualify that advisor for the job. A professional financial advisor can offer expertise and experience that few of your contemporaries could match. If you find a financial advisor that you trust, you get the best of both worlds.
A financial advisor can tell you how others have dealt with similar decisions. They can provide help in understanding the consequences of a bad decision and the potential created by a good decision. They won’t make the decision for you, but they can help you to make the best decision for you.
As a leader, you do a lot of decision-making. It’s a key leadership skill. That shouldn’t mean that you make decisions on your own. The best leaders use every consultation source available. Great leaders are great decision makers and great decision makers rarely make those decisions on their own.
For a free consultation with the Sukay & Associates executive team, please click here. We can assist, and talk you through your options.
