Leader Vs. Biz Owner Vs. Biz Leader

11 May Leader Vs. Biz Owner Vs. Biz Leader

Leader Versus Business Owner Versus Business Leader, Which One Are You?

So for those that don’t know me I am Christopher Hart, I am a coach and consultant in the field and area of organizational leadership development as well as the psychology of success through peak performance.  

So today’s post is titled Leader Versus Business Owner Versus Business Leader, Which One Are You?  And so what we’re going to look to do today, our intent is to define each one of the three so we can understand how we’re showing up and who we need to be in the environment that we are currently leading in.  And so let’s kind of define them first and then we’ll kind of put it all together and then see which direction either you or what’s the most optimal direction to go in as far as the identity of yourself as a leader depending on the environment you’re leading.

So first and foremost, when we say leader, like what is a leader?   We’ve defined this in previous videos but there’s many definitions so we’re just going to use some basic ones where a leader is someone who possesses the ability to influence others, and influence is defined as the power to affect someone’s character or actions.

So in reality a leader is someone who has the power to affect someone’s character and/or actions.  And there’s a lot of leaders in businesses today and in organizations whereby they have the power to affect someone’s character or action and they’re showing up as a leader but they may not necessarily be showing up as the right leader, so we’ll talk more about that here in a minute.

So the next one, the next category is a business owner.  So what’s a business owner?  A business owner is someone who obviously owns a business, and I don’t look at just someone as owns a business to be the quote/unquote “business owner” that we’re talking about today, I’m looking at it from a standpoint that someone who owns a business and understands that they need to run it like a business.  And to run it like a business means you have a business plan, you have a business map, you have goals, you have a strategy, you have a budget, and you have a profit and loss statement, like you understand the numbers, you have a direction that you’re trying to head in, and you’re holding all that accountable.  That’s what business owners do, they run it like a business, they understand their money, they understand the strategy, they understand the elements of production that affects the income.  Like you’re looking at income and outcome, you’re looking at income and expenses, you understand all those elements, you’re tracking them, you’re measuring them and you’re holding them accountable.  So that’s a business owner, so we have a leader who has the power to affect someone’s character or actions …and/or actions, you have a business owner who owns the business and has elements of strategy in place, a business plan, a budget, a profit and loss, goals, a business map, the whole nine yards.

So then you have business leader, and so business leader is someone who owns a business, or someone who is a leader within a department of a business and with that possesses all those things that we said a business owner possesses which is a business plan, a strategy, a map, a budget, a profit and loss statement, goals, they have their whole…they’re measuring all their activities, they’re measuring their production, they’re measuring their income, they’re measuring their outcome, they’re measuring their expenses, and all that is used for making decisions to affect the character or actions of other people.  

So there’s really three categories here that someone can show up as.  They can show up as a leader which I believe many businesses have leaders, and maybe they don’t have the title like team leader or department leader or manager or supervisor, they may not have the title but there’s people in your business, in your environments, in your organizations, in your churches, that do possess the power to affect someone’s character and/or actions and so therefore they’re a leader.  And yet people that are leaders they’re defined, label leader, positional leaders, that may possess the power to affect people’s character or actions but they’re not being effective, they’re not being business leaders. And what that looks like is we understand the business leader category where not only do you possess the power to affect someone’s character or actions but you do so in alignment with the department or the organizational or the business’s goals and budgets and strategies and plans.  Your conversations are about accounting for activities, accounting for results and all those elements that are in play that create the conversations that affect someone’s character or actions cause you to be a business leader.

If you’re just a business owner where you know, “Hey I have a business and hey we’re out there, we’re getting agreements, we’re getting contracts, and hey I made 500 thousand dollars last year,”  but you spent 499 thousand of it.  Like that’s just a business owner, you own a business, you have the responsibility, you’re on paper through the IRS, through your local business tax office that you’re on paper you’re the owner of the business but you’re not a business leader, you’re just an owner.  You’re making a lot of money but you’re spending a lot of money; you have no plan and when you fail to plan you’re planning to fail, so in theory you’re just a business owner.  And sometimes business owners don’t even affect someone’s character or actions, or maybe they do and they’re doing it negatively and that’s not a leader, that’s just a business owner.

The pinnacle of the three is the business leader.

But I believe the pinnacle of the three is the business leader.  When I say business, translate it into wherever you’re showing up.  If you’re a leader in a church, a leader in an organization, you’re the organizational leader; or the leader of your family, which means that if you want to be the leader of your family what does that mean?  You have a vision for your family, you have a mission for your family, you have goals for your family, you have a strategy to how to meet those goals, you’re holding them accountable, you’re reviewing them, you’re having conversations around them.  The conversations that you have with those that you lead within your family are affecting their character and/or their actions, that makes you the leader of that entity, whether it’s a business, a family, or an organization.  Fill in the block, we just call it business leader.

So if you are the leader of a business, if you’re the leader of a department within a business, understand for those two worlds to come together there must be the elements of vision, mission, plan, strategy, map, goals, what you hold valuable, what you’re going to hire to, what you’re going to fire to.  You’re going to have accountability elements along the way, consistent periodic accountability, and all those elements shape the conversations that you have with people because in order to be a business leader there must be the business elements of everything I just covered as well as the power to affect other people, to include yourself, other people’s character and/or actions.

You see if you’re a business owner and everything that you converse about is how people are affecting your business, you’re not a leader, you’re using other people to get what you want, that’s not a leader because one of the definitions of a leader is the power to affect someone’s character or actions as well as to help others get what they want so in turn you can get what you want it, it’s success through people; it’s servant leadership.  So what we want to come to understand about these three, all three have the ability to be effective in your life.  Like you can be a leader, you don’t necessarily need to own a business.  Maybe you’re a leader in your church, maybe you’re of leader in your bible study or your volunteer organization and you’re there to affect someone’s character or actions.  Great!  If that’s the intention.  

You can be a business owner, and maybe you don’t have this grand view of really being able to build something big, like this is just… like you’re just a business owner.  This is a business that you have a specific goal, specific skill or trait that you want to leverage in order to fund your life and fund your family.  Well that’s okay too, nothing’s wrong, everything’s what it is until it’s right or wrong, so if it works for you, great;  if it’s wrong for other people then that’s when it shows up as wrong.  

But I think the pinnacle of our ability to be affective in life, to really live out our God-given greatness, because the Bible says in Genesis, “We are made in His image,” and He made everything, the heavens, the earth, the light, the dark, the sun, the birds, the bees, the flowers and the trees, He made it all. He’s great.  He’s the all powerful One, the Almighty, the All Great, and we’re made in His image so therefore we possess that, and we possess that I believe through the Holy Spirit.  But understand something, whether you believe that or not, you possess it, because that’s who your Creator is, and our ability to live that out I think happens through businesses where we can create financial resources to really work to effect positive change within the world. Because we all know that as much as we don’t want to look at money as this thing that owns us, we understand money gives us the ability to be resourceful, to do more things in the world.  Like yes you have your time, you have your effort, and you can make a massive impact on the world.  But if you have time, effort, and money, your impact on the world can be even greater, and businesses allow us to do that.  

That is what we’re here for right?

And so to be truly effective in the world where we can maximize our resources through business to create financial resources and have the power to affect people’s character or actions in business is to use the elements of business, plans, strategies, goals, measurements, accountabilities, to shape the conversations, to make people better people and to create better action within them so we can create a greater impact within them, so they can create a greater influence in their life, in their family, in the world, and collectively we can all shape and improve the world for a greater good.  I mean that is what we’re here for right?  We’re not here to just exist,  we weren’t created to be average, we weren’t here to be slaves to a business or a job or a leader or a supervisor.  

This life, I believe, we were given to enjoy, to love everything that God created within it.  Not to be a slave from nine to five, work 80 hours a week just so we can have money that maybe one day we get to take a week off, it’s not what it’s all about.

What it’s about, what life is all about is fulfillment, joy, and happiness and that comes with being a better person and having the ability to affect other people’s characters and actions.  And our jobs, our businesses and those we lead afford us that opportunity.  And you can do it by being that organizational, business, or departmental leader by can creating all those elements of a business and then using them to shape the conversations that we have with those that we engage with on a daily basis.

Now I know we talk business leader, business owner, and leader, but like I said in my other videos, the message of leadership parallels everything, business and in life.  Why?  Because we’re dealing with people and we’re people.   We have to use this information to be able to influence ourselves so we can influence other people.

“We continually miss that piece of the clearly stated mission and vision of our businesses.”  I’ll tell you right now as a business coach, an organizational coach, what I find is most people are missing that vision and mission. So one of the first things I would tell leaders out there is it starts there with a vision and mission, if you don’t have that, go out and create that because that drives everything.  And once you have it, you cannot, absolutely cannot lose focus of that.  You serve your mission, you serve your vision, you don’t serve the opinions of others.   

What are you serving?  

Are you serving your business, goals, missions, visions, intents, plans, strategies, or are you serving the opinions of others?  Because both have a radically different outcome and trajectory for your life.

So my heart is set on this information allows you to see the ability to live a greater life for yourself, your family, your businesses, and those that are affected in each one of those elements, people within your life, your sphere of influence, people that center around your family, that your family engages, whether it’s sports, extracurricular activities, churches, organizations, as well as the businesses you run.  My hope is that you see this information how it can shape your life and those around you through any environment that you participate in.  

So we hope that this information brought value to your life and your business. I’d love to hear your ahas and comments.  It’s my passion, it’s my mission, it’s my vision.  So I’d love to hear your ahas.  Let me know what you’re taking away from this post in the comments section below.

Thanks for joining me and before we go remember one thing, God loves you, so do I.  Lead strong and have an amazing rest of your day.  Take care.

About the author:

Over the course of 8 years, Christopher Hart went from an enlisted Private First Class to a Commissioned Officer-Captain. In 2005, Christopher chose to move on from his military career to focus on starting a family and embarking in the world of entrepreneurship. Christopher’s passion is now working to help others be the BEST version of themselves and helping them Lead others to the same!

To learn more about Christopher Hart or to get in touch with him regarding a coaching program you can email him at Chris@TransformingLivesCoaching.com