Leadership styles in a home based business must challenge the status quo. Leaders should be on the look-out to see if ourselves or others on our team are doing the right things, and if those things can be accomplished by better or smarter techniques.

One must not hesitate to innovate and change with the times and the varying formations. The leader who stands still is not progressing, and he will not remain a leader for long. Vince Lombardi

Leadership demonstrated in today’s world may not be dealing with the "varying formations" of the 11 players on a football field, but leaders certainly are dealing with change. Technology ideas of "yesterday", are implemented "today", and by "tomorrow" are replaced by something even faster, smaller or with additional capabilities. With the changes in technology, communication and the access to information has changed just as dramatically. At the traditional work place, consider how a senior member of a staff typically looks at his/her work, as compared to a high school or college age individual. In the past, an individual may have worked their entire life for a company, or changed jobs only a couple of times. With these and other changes in our world today, why do some individuals refuse to change their methods or their attitude towards leading others?

In a home based business, or in a traditional business, effective leadership can no longer be simply duplicating the steps or approaches which have worked in the past. We all know of someone who insists on a leadership style which is now less than effective, yet they continue down the same path day after day. In a home-based business your leader may say "you just need to talk to more people to get more "no’s", which will then lead to more "yes’s"; or, "just follow these steps, and it will also work for you". While there is validity in learning from the past, one must not get stuck there and ignore the changes around us.

The leader of today must see reality as it exists, not as it used to be or as one desires it to be. Having accomplished that, the leader must put into action the appropriate response.

Having said this, understand this is not always the easiest thing to do. When using and applying valuable past experiences, many leaders cling tightly to what works. In their desire to access current situations and determine any changes necessary, it is easy to fall into the trap of reverting back to what worked last time. To be successful, a leader must remove the blinders that screen out the things they may not want to see and recognize the need to change. In some cases, this may include acknowledging their own shortcomings and accepting the need for change.

Leadership in changing times involves self-examination. Socrates said "Know thyself", but he didn’t provide the direction to accomplish this task. As we are all different and complex individuals, it is never easy for leaders to "know themselves". We must look at our motivation, the outside influences and pressures which we work under, and our conditioned habits of thought and action each as a means to better understand ourselves.

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