No doubt you’ve heard that the key to business success is: "location, location, location."

Certainly, location is one key to business success. But during my experience as an entrepreneur and my thirty-plus years of being a consultant, investor and banker to small businesses, I've found that the key to success goes by a different mantra: "management, management, management."

Ask any venture capitalist or angel investor what they look for in a business investment. The answer will always be "management".

Sure, investors and bankers are looking for a good business idea in a growth orientated industry producing strong cash flow. But they will be more interested in an average business idea backed up by a great management team than a great business idea with an average management team.

Try replacing "management" with a related but more focused word: "leadership". Now you have a mantra with real power. In his book entitled, "The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership", John C. Maxwell writes that, "Leadership ability determines a person’s level of effectiveness."

He calls this the Law of the Lid. This law applies to business, not-for-profits, churches, and families alike. The better you lead, the greater the potential for your organization's success. And why? The answer is simple: a well-led organization is highly effective.

How many times have you watched a business open with a great idea in a great location only to close within a few years? Many might blame the economy or cash flow for the failure. The truth is more likely a lack of leadership effectiveness.

As a mentor, coach and trainer working with hundreds of organizations, I've seen the vast differences in performance that result from change at the leadership level. When carefully examined, Maxwell’s Law of the Lid rings true time and time again.

To change the effectiveness of your organization, you could change the leader. This happens all the time in the corporate and government world. But with families, small businesses and organizations, it's better for the leaders to proactively take steps to raise the lid on their leadership effectiveness.

Call to Action:

1. Assess your leadership effectiveness on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being not very effective and 10 being highly effective.

2. Identify 5 strategies you should undertake to raise your lid.

3. Ask others to rate your leadership. Talk to your spouse, fellow board members, boss and a couple of colleagues. Use the same scale to rate your leadership in the following areas:

People skills
Planning and strategic thinking
Vision
Achieving results

4. Ask the people you consult for suggestions on how you could improve your ability to lead in the key areas listed above.

The key to increasing the effectiveness of leadership is to learn for yourself and then teach others. "Lift your lid so you can lift others’!" – John C. Maxwell

Leaders, we all have the capacity to change. Change … it starts with us.

The best is yet to come. It starts with you.

Your friends,
The UpCloseTeam