How to Become a Savage Leader - 13 Principles to Apply

What is a Savage Leader? How do I become a Savage Leader? Those are among the many questions that I hear from people when they hear the name of my book - The Savage Leader: 13 Principles to Become a Better Leader from the Inside Out.

Savage Leaders have three attributes in common and are those leaders who are bold enough to look inside themselves for what matters most and anchor their lives and careers (and actions!) to those values. In addition, there are 13 Savage Principles that will help you on your path to becoming a great leader, a Savage Leader. Keep reading if you want to take the first steps to becoming a Savage Leader.

How to Become a Great Leader - A “Savage Leader” - 13 Steps

STEP #1: USE VALUES TO ANCHOR AND GUIDE YOU

All great leaders have a bedrock of values that anchor and guide them. Values that guide important decisions in their careers and in life. Values that keep them on the right path and avoid tempting options that don’t align with what matters most. Download the first chapter of The Savage Leader for free to learn more about how to identify your values use them in your day-to-day life and career.

STEP #2: ADAPT BEST PRACTICES FOR AUTHENTICITY

Books, TED Talks, leadership courses, podcasts, and more are stuffed with best practices. Follow those best practices and you’ll be successful, right? Not exactly. Savage Leaders tailor best practices to fit with their personalities, strengths, beliefs, and experiences. Do more than copy and paste best practices and watch your leadership competency take off.

STEP #3: FORGE UNBREAKABLE BONDS WITH YOUR TRIBE

The ability to communicate and connect with your team is perhaps the most important skill for leaders to adopt. But don’t use snappy sound bites to connect. Dig deep to understand the importance of humility, curiosity, and empathy (the “Communication Mindsets”) as well as key communication skills like active listening and asking powerful questions. Applying both the communication mindsets and skills will create lasting bonds with your team members that lead to higher levels of employee engagement while reducing employee turnover.

STEP #4: COMMIT TO LIFELONG LEARNING AND GROWTH

Change is constant and relentless. Change in customer wants and needs. Change within our competitors. Change required by our employees. The only way to adapt to the speed and magnitude of change is to become a lifelong learner and commit to continuous growth. Become a lifelong learner that looks to a variety of modalities to learn and grow; mentors, volunteer opportunities, books, blogs, podcasts, and more.

STEP #5: PRACTICE MENTAL AND PHYSICAL REPS TO WIN WHEN IT COUNTS

Great leaders do the necessary prep to deliver when it counts. Whether that’s winning a new deal, presenting to investors, providing feedback to your team, or speaking at your national sales conference. Do the extra work to take extra mental and physical reps that simulate the real situation so that you can be at your best when the spotlight is on you.

STEP #6: TAKE ACTION TO MAINTAIN AND REGAIN FOCUS

Success requires sustained effort and focus over time. The ability to stay focused separates the successful leaders from those who don’t make it. Journaling and meditation are two key methods to preset your mind so that you can stay focused during weeks-long, months-long, or even years-long sprints.

STEP #7: DIG DEEP TO PERSEVERE IN DARK TIMES

Our careers and lives are full of many ups and downs. Great leaders don’t give up when the hit a rough patch. Rather, they find ways to keep going - they focus on the process not just outcomes and use proxy metrics to maintain momentum (and motivation).

STEP #8: EMBRACE AND UTILIZE PATIENCE AS A SECRET WEAPON

I used to think, “Patience is a virtue… For other people.” That was incredibly naive and arrogant. What I realized was that there is a difference between impatience for action and impatience for outcomes. The best leaders are ones that take quick, well-informed, and decisive action while balancing this with patience for outcomes - especially for things outside of their control. Immediate outcomes aren’t guaranteed when seeking big achievements and change in your life. Patience is one of the unsung heroes of great leaders.

STEP #9: SEEK OUT DISCOMFORT TO DRIVE GROWTH

Growth and comfort truly are mutually exclusive. Great leaders are constantly learning and growing and step out of their comfort zones on a regular basis to turbocharge their growth. Savage Leaders raise their hand and say “Yes” when new and uncomfortable (maybe even scary) opportunities rise. Seek out discomfort in your life and career as the path to ongoing development.

STEP #10: OWN AND CHALLENGE LIMITING BELIEFS

Self-limiting beliefs are one of the biggest impediments to leaders’ ability to succeed. Every day, I am more and more convinced that these “old tapes” that play in our heads are the single biggest reason we fail to achieve our goals and take longer to make key steps in our lives. Savage Leaders take an objective look at these limiting beliefs and replace them with new, positive ones to pull them forward. Be honest and vulnerable with these negative thoughts in your head and take steps to squelch them.

STEP #11: CRUSH YOUR DOUBTS AND REFRAME THEM FOR SUCCESS

Left unchecked, self-limiting beliefs create doubt. Doubt in your ability to take on a new promotion. Doubt preventing you from reaching out to a quota-breaking prospect, starting a new business, or changing careers. Savage Leaders start to overcome doubt by looking to the past for successes when facing similar situations, using positive self-talk to chisel away at the doubt, or recognizing that in many cases doubt stems from statistical probability of a project or situation failing.

STEP #12: MAKE FEAR YOUR FRIEND

All of us experience fear at different stages of our lives. Fear of failure. Fear of the unknown. Fear of embarrassing ourselves in front of our colleagues and highly-curated online networks. Fear can paralyze even the most accomplish leaders among us. Savage Leaders overcome fear by breaking down seemingly insurmountable tasks into bite-size steps and finding aspects of familiarity in scary situations or projects.

STEP #13: USE YOUR PAST TO TRANSFORM THE PRESENT

Our lives and careers are a rich tapestry of stories. Stories of triumph, failure, success, and loss. Many times, we dismiss these stories as trivial. Savage Leaders look to their past to extract vital lessons and insights that can be applied in our lives today.

Are You Ready to Become a Savage Leader?

If you ready to apply the 13 Savage Principles described above, you can get started in number of ways. Download the first chapter of The Savage Leader book for free or purchase the full book today. There are also a number of free tools to help you implement the Savage Principles in your life and career. Good luck on the journey to becoming a Savage Leader!