In the 25 years or more that we've worked with some of the best Business Development people in the power generation industry, we've found that they have some unique traits that set them apart from the rest. It doesn't seem to matter what kind of business they work for, who their clients are, or how the economy is doing. We've found that these people are, in fact, the top 3% of professionals in their field. We've found that, in addition to learning how to think like CEOs, Presidents, and entrepreneurial leaders of Business Development units, they've also learned how to act like leaders. They have learned how to set strategic and operational goals when making plans, how to be visionaries and see opportunities for their organisations that other people might miss, and how to master the 12 Core Competencies, which are used to measure leaders.
One of the best ways to describe a leader is as someone whose mere presence makes people want to follow. When asked whether leaders are born or made, most people agree that they can be taught. Even though most of us haven't had the chance to learn how to lead in a formal setting or with a mentor, we all have to lead at some point in our lives. Leadership starts with who you are as a person, not what you do, and the most important thing about a leader is their character. This part of a person is what makes others want to follow them, so we think of character as the sum of a person's principles and values, the core beliefs by which a person bases and measures their behaviour in all of their roles in life. Some of the values and principles of a good leader are loyalty, respect, honesty, fairness, courage, duty, honour, and commitment.
If our principles and values are what make up our character, then ethics is how we live by them. Nicomachean Ethics, which was written by Aristotle almost 2500 years ago, can help us learn more about how people change over time. Aristotle said that people learn to be good by doing good things. Aristotle said that ethics is moral excellence that comes from habits. Ethics comes from the Greek word ethike, which is a slight change of the word ethos (habit). Aristotle said that moral virtues don't come out of who we are by nature. Instead, we have to accept them, embrace them, and work on getting better at them over time. In leadership training, it is emphasised that knowing the values and qualities of a leader is only the first step in becoming one. A leader must also believe in and live by values and traits, doing so until they become habits.
To be successful in the Business Development role, we need to combine who we are as a person with our principles, values, ethics, and how we use them. It is a unique mix of what we know, how we use that knowledge, and what we do.
Bill Scheessele is the CEO and founder of MBDi, a Charlotte, North Carolina-based Business Development consulting firm. MBDi has helped client firms turn their high-level expertise into business for the bottom line for the past 27 years. Visit www.mbdi.com to learn more about the company and the MBDi Business Development Process.
