How To Show Up As A Leader In Your Business
Business changemakers who care about social impact are paving the way for inclusive leadership. If you’re interested in learning more about how to show up as a leader and join a growing movement of impact business owners then this blog was written to show you how!
We’re not just business owners. We are culture influencers in our industry. We don’t just do business. We also interact with other people, businesses and the broader social and cultural context. As entrepreneurs, business owners, and organizations, we all have an opportunity to create fairer, better ways of operating.
Everyone can be a business leader. Focusing on developing inclusive & empowering leadership skills can help your business to grow ethically and have a ripple out effect when it comes to making an impact.
One of the hardest parts about stepping up into a position of leadership, and seeing oneself as a leader, can be figuring out how to even operate an ethical business in a capitalist society. After all, business is a product of capitalism. But business leadership is about challenging this.
Can businesses exist outside capitalist logic?
The concept of ethical business can sound like a paradox.
Historically, businesses have been rooted in the logic of profit.
They exist to produce goods, use any resource in their power to produce as much goods as they can, and aim to make as much money as possible from them.
The logic of profit has overpowered the logic of people (humanity), nature (sustainability) and community (collectiveness). It has normalized a system of work based on exploitation, extractive practices and individual competition.
How can all of this be ETHICAL?
Ethical businesses are all about leadership. Activating your leadership agency is a powerful strategy that helps your business grow, stand out and create more impact by accelerating your potential to make a difference through your work.
At FairForce we like to talk about business leadership with 3 core pillars.
The 3 pillars of business leadership for changemakers:
CONTEXT: Business leadership is about growing more and more aware of the broader context in which our business exists and acting upon this awareness. It’s about running a business knowing that the personal, professional and political dimensions are connected and influence our business building process.
IMPACT: Becoming aware of the social, cultural and environmental impact of our business. It’s about exploring possibilities for our business to channel positive change, to promote equitable practices and to create solutions that benefit our audience + community.
ROLE: Understanding that our role as business owners comes with social and cultural responsibilities. It’s about acting on the awareness that we interact with people, their desires, their needs, and their feelings. So we need to learn how to handle these in a respectful, inclusive and people-centered way.
Businesses are led by humans. Humans have the power to shift the compass of business logic by choosing to recenter people, nature and community.
Although we cannot fully separate businesses from the spectrum of capitalist practices (reminder: capitalism is a system and most of us still exist in, support and benefit from it, regardless of how much we try to challenge it), we can actively QUESTION practices of exploitation, extraction and competition by running businesses through DIFFERENT VALUES AND PARADIGMS.
People over profit.
Community/collectivism over individualism.
Critical privilege awareness over narratives of inequalities.
Respect for the land over imperialism and new colonialism (digital!)
Your leadership values shape the way you build your business.
When we QUESTION the most harmful side of capitalist business practices, and make conscious decisions that can create a system of entrepreneurship supportive of people, nature and community, we’re acting as LEADERS.
This IS possible and a lot of entrepreneurs are already embracing unconventional business practices that create sustainable benefits for themselves and their communities.
Let’s take a look at some clear examples of what business leadership can look like in practice.
How To Show Up As A Leader In Business
Say what others don’t dare to say → call out harmful practices in your industry, talk about the real impact of your industry in people’s lives and on the planet. E.g. a Yoga teacher speaking up about the harm that white supremacy and cultural appropriation causes in wellness spaces.
Bring your values to the forefront of your business work. A value-driven brand identity helps businesses stand out, create unique online presences and attract value-aligned audience + clients. This turns you into a leader in your industry.
Be there to inspire, guide and educate your audience, not just to sell and convert. Often, it’s through sharing your valuable perspectives, and offering free teachings to your audience that you end up building long lasting connections that are mutually supportive.
Create more nuanced conversations with your audience and community. Social media can make this difficult with the nature of ‘the endless scroll’ and quickly digested content so think of ways you can continue the conversation with more room for complexity e.g. Instagram Lives, creating a podcast or blog.
Do things that others don’t dare to do → lead your business by clear values and go beyond business as usual. Integrate equitable solutions into your offers e.g. sliding scale pricing, free offers, community spaces, scholarship places on programs etc.
Be explicit, specific and transparent about the impact of your business.
Tell the whole story, not just what’s convenient (keep it real and relatable).
Connect to the bigger vision and purpose of your work, not just to the transactional activities.
There’s even more to add to this list and we’re sure you have all kinds of interesting examples from your own experience too! It’s an ever-evolving process, with your leadership style developing as you go along. 2023 is an exciting time to be a changemaker in business and develop inclusive leadership skills. The world is rapidly changing, and we need values-led leaders who are personally and professionally invested in challenging capitalism’s profit based logic.
FairForce’s work is backed by 8+ years of hands-on leadership experience in people and culture departments. Our team is equipped with a diverse set of expertise to deliver holistic consulting that supports ethical business growth led by Human-First values. We’ve seen the harm ‘business as usual’ causes. So, we’ve made it our mission to show that a kinder, fairer way of doing business is not only possible, but a powerful antidote to the ills of capitalism.