# Leadership as Core Business Driver

**Podcast:** LEITWOLF Podcast - Leadership, Führung & Management
**Published:** 2026-09-06

## Transcript

Isn't it ironic that in order to drive a car you need a license, but in order to lead people you don't?
Good leadership is priceless.
There is evidence that leadership is a great investment for your business, not just for well-being and soft skills.
Hello and welcome, dear Lightwolf podcast listener.
Today I am doing something a little different than I normally do.
I would like to share with you...
A few things that are going through my mind these days when I reflect about the work that my team and I are allowed to do, which is terrific.
There are a few things that just are work for us in a positive sense that still do sometimes bother me.
And I hope that you'll find out during this conversation why.
I'd be curious to learn whether any of these thoughts in my mind resonate with your thoughts and whether any of these observations I make in our client base and beyond are similar to the observations and experiences that you make in your business.
So let's start with the first observation.
One thing on my mind, leadership is not a soft skill.
An astonishingly high number of people, both among our clients, but also among others we see on social media or on events, seem to assume that leadership is a soft skill and optional, right?
So it's the softer side, it's the emotional side, it's the well-being side.
And while all of these are included, we lead humans, In some senior leaders, the conviction and understanding how profound good leadership is to drive your short, mid and long term business performance.
For still a number of CEOs, leadership is still secondary.
Maybe not in what they say, but in what they do.
Let me give you an example.
from our work in those last couple of months.
A CEO of a mid-sized company in Europe, wonderful human being, I really like him as a human, spent six months with us and four other leadership transformation providers in a pitch process.
There was a briefing document.
There were pieces of information shared.
There were conversations to get to know each other.
There were first offers.
There were meetings on their side without us selecting.
So the list went down from five to four to three to two and ultimately to one.
And we are very happy to have won the pitch to be the provider of choice against some strong other vendors.
Aber wir haben noch nicht mehr, und das ist, weil das, was sehr informativ und educativ für beide Seiten, der CEO hat, dass in den aktuellen, mehr als häufig schwierigen business circumstances, es wäre sehr schwer zu garantieren.
The time resources required, the capacity required to take this culture change work, this cultural leadership transformation work as seriously as it deserves.
And for that reason, they want to do it, but they postponed it until further notice.
Now, no time, no budget is the message.
And I find it astonishing.
Because no time, no budget for the most important job of a leader in a business that in the European markets where it operates apparently never really had the opportunity for an integrated systemic leadership development for leaders whose primary role is to lead.
Und wenn es keine Zeit zu lernen, wenn es keine Zeit zu lernen, wenn es keine Zeit zu finanzieren, dann ist das etwas, was mich wirklich interessiert.
Ich bin nicht naiviert, und ich weiß, dass du Zeit und du Zeit musst, die Geld zu investieren, in such eine External-Initiative.
Aber ich weiß, dass von jedem Tag in meinem Leben, insbesondere in meinem Leben, dass gut leadership ist.
Good leadership drives employee engagement very directly.
There are x-fold differences in motivation and performance and business results between people who are led by a great leader and those who are led by a poor leader.
I've been in business for 35 years.
I've been in leadership roles for about the same time.
And I have ample evidence of this.
Und in addition to all those experiences that I've made myself, there was ample research proving the point.
There is a direct relationship between the way leaders lead their people, how engaged these people are, how productive they are as a result, and how profitable the business is as a result of all of this.
It's proven.
Let me share just one example.
Das ist eine gewisse, und ich habe mehr.
Ich habe ein Forschungsgericht von einem US-Konsultancy, das direkt links den 360-Feedbacken von 57,000 leaders, wie Sie und ich, zu profit-developmen von den businessesen sie ran über eine 4-5-Jährige Zeit.
1,500 Leute direkt links zu profit.
Du kannst die straight line von leadership-performance-to-profit-developmen-to-profit-developmen.
The nutshell is, consistently strong leadership more than doubles profit growth of your company.
So it's a huge return on investment if you do invest.
And if you're interested in reading, this is one of the few books, it's called Good to Great from Jim Collins.
It's one of the few books in my life I read twice.
It's because how good it is and how interesting the question raised.
Because the question that Jim Collins and his consultant team raised probably 20, 25 years ago was, has there ever been a business that turned from good, defined as annual 7% growth, to great, defined as five times that growth or more, and sustained over at least 15 years?
So a really high bar in terms of definition of great.
And they analyzed 1,440 companies.
Und sie findet 11 Unternehmen, die die Bewegung von gut zu gut gegründet haben, haben sie eine 5-Folde und eine 5-Folde erhöhte über 15 Jahre.
Amazing.
Wir arbeiten mit einem, so wir können ein bisschen in die Zeit, die die Unternehmen einigen, die eine Unternehmen zu unterstützen.
Und guess was?
Faktor number 1 war zwischen den 11en, die sie zu gut gegründet haben, and the many others that stayed on good.
Factor number one is leadership.
And when they digged deeper and Jim and his team spent 10 consultant years really going deep, understanding why and how these companies made it, at the heart, at the bottom of the analysis, those companies, just before the turn and long after the turn to great results, had level five leadership.
Meaning leaders who combine two, Seemingly contradictory skills in one person.
On the one hand side, strong willpower to get the right thing done, not the comfortable thing.
Willpower to get the right thing done.
And on the other hand, sheer endless personal humility, which is the harder bit for those people with strong willpower, coming across as humble and not ego-focused.
That's this magic combo revealed in this book.
Das ist an der Hauptsache, dass Unternehmen von gut zu gut sind, erhöhter ihre Profitabilität und ihre Growth Rates fünffold und sustaining das Growth Rate für 15 Jahre oder mehr.
Amazing.
So, da ist evidence, dass Leadership ist ein Great Investment für Ihr Business, nicht nur für Wellbeing und Soft Skills.
Book a call with me and we exchange.
If you have doubts, go book a call with me and we exchange even more.
But if you feel with this, if this resonates with you, then help us spread the message.
Leadership is not a soft skill only.
It's the skill, the one skill, leading with impact, leading with the impact you want, is the one core skill that a leader should leverage to lead.
her or himself, to lead others in order for them to lead the business and for the business to become much more successful in countable currency.
So help us spread the message.
The second thing on my mind these days is leader by accident.
Maybe you have heard about the phenomenon.
Maybe you have seen the phenomenon around you.
It's called leader by accident.
Imagine the following situation.
There was a group of technical functional experts, say 10 experts, led by someone.
And that's someone that woman or man retires.
And there was a need to promote someone or to get someone installed.
And quite frequently, the responsible leaders in the company then decide to promote the best expert to the leadership role.
Oftentimes without asking themselves, To what extent that leader is willing to lead a group of 10.
To what extent that leader is capable to lead a group of 10.
And whether that person has ever had an education in how to lead.
Isn't it ironic that in order to drive a car you need a license.
But in order to lead people you don't.
I find it ironic.
You first need to assess whether the person is willing to lead people.
Capable to lead people and willing to learn it.
Because leadership is lifelong learning that never ends.
I'm by far not ready with me.
I love the topic.
I've learned a bit.
But I will learn even more in the future.
So it's a learnable and teachable skill.
But you need to make sure that you have people in leadership roles.
Das ist ein Witz.
Die haben nicht mehr geholfen, die nicht mehr geholfen, die nicht mehr geholfen, die nicht mehr geholfen, die nicht mehr geholfen, die nicht mehr geholfen, die nicht mehr geholfen, die nicht mehr geholfen, die nicht mehr geholfen, die nicht mehr geholfen, die nicht mehr geholfen, die nicht mehr geholfen, die nicht mehr geholfen, die nicht mehr geholfen, die nicht mehr geholfen, die nicht mehr geholfen, die nicht mehr geholfen, die nicht mehr geholfen, die nicht mehr geholfen, die nicht mehr geholfen, die nicht mehr geholfen, die nicht mehr geholfen, die nicht mehr geholfen, die nicht mehr geholfen, die nicht mehr geholfen, die nicht mehr geholfen, die nicht mehr geholfen, die nicht mehr geholfen, die nicht mehr geholfen, die nicht mehr geholfen, die nicht mehr geholfen, die nicht mehr geholfen in the eyes of some also goes along with social status.
Maybe they just were afraid to disappoint their bosses who needed to fill a vacancy.
All of these things might be motives and I think they are all legitimate motives.
But if you have someone like this in your team where you either doubt whether the person wants to lead or where you have evidence that she or he doesn't help the people out of these roles, it's an accident.
Und einfach helfen sie mit der Pride und mit der Gnitil zu finden, um verschiedene Spots zu finden.
Schon zehn Jahre alt, wenn ich das erste Mal als ein Consultant habe, wenn wir ein Banken haben, der wir mitarbeitet haben, hat sich die Leute einen verschiedenen Job zu offer, die mehr zu ihrer Strength Profile und ihre Interesse zu haben.
Und ja, ein 20% lowerer Kompensation.
Aber 80% von ihnen chose zu accept.
The other jobs, they were relieved because they never really felt well in the leadership role.
So if this again makes you think, then reflect what's right.
If you have the impression that around you there is someone who became a leader by accident, then intervene in the right way.
If it's your own direct report, have the right analysis, have the right exchange, have the right conversation.
Maybe all they need is training.
Basic, fundamental training.
Give them a few days of training and the right toolkit.
Maybe that's all they need.
Maybe they need a good conversation to become aware of what it actually means to be a leader of people.
Or maybe they wait for a conversation with you where they can finally get out of their role because they don't like it at all.
All of this is possible, but this right thing can only happen if you take the lead.
If you initiate...
The right conversation, which is what I actually recommend, how you could help the topic of leadership have the right conversation and make leadership development a priority.
Leadership is a teachable skill.
Leaders are not born.
They are made by their companies and by themselves.
So help your leaders be.
better leaders by making this whole topic of leadership development a conscious and targeted priority.
And a third topic that's bothering me these days, or that's a topic of conversation at least, because there was more and more companies coming around the corner, getting convinced about the need for it or requesting it inbound themselves.
And we are glad to write offers and engage in first conversations with companies.
Just doing this, Tanya Next Door is just finalizing a massive offer for a company who, after many acquisitions, wants to establish one united leadership culture for the future.
They have almost 20,000 employees, they have more than 1,000 leaders, and they want a massive program to really define one framework and one program.
And we are very happy to make that offer.
Now, the headline of this third thought is No Systems.
No results.
What does that mean?
I grew up in a company where only over time, and in fact only in hindsight, I really understood the leadership system that I was living and working in.
This leadership system looked a bit like this bus.
It had four wheels.
There were role models.
So theoretical role models being a leadership.
A leadership principle.
A leadership behavior.
The way they should be.
And of course the living role models.
Your direct boss and the senior leaders in the company.
Role models.
The second wheel was purpose.
Why?
It's not just company purpose.
But also why should I lead this way?
Why is this way of leadership right for our clients, our company and for me as an individual leader?
Turning the bus around.
The third one is development support.
Und dann, und das ist mein Punkt, Systeme measures.
No system.
No results.
Because only what gets measured gets done.
As long as leadership programs are just an offer and there is no measurement and there is no link to personnel decisions, they remain an optional offer forever.
If you really want leaders to want to change, then you need to complement the right offers with the right expectation.
It's not just an option to lead well.
It's the expectation to lead well.
And the best companies I've seen measure their leaders on two KPIs.
Not just the business result.
The business result is key, no doubt about it.
The financial result, the commercial result, the functional result.
The what is key, no doubt.
But equally highly, they also measure and rate the how.
How effectively those leaders lead and build themselves.
und lead und grow the people all around them.
Das heißt leadership.
So they measure business performance und leadership performance on equal weight.
Und das ist der System.
Und nur once you have that System in place, und you help people to develop themselves with measures, und you also help people to assess their own leadership performance with leadership measures, das ist der Moment, wenn die whole thing tickes von Optional Offer zu Konsistent Expectation.
Und das ist warum dieser Third Thought ist bothering mich.
Warum gibt es noch so viele, die einfach nur so machen, die einfachen offers.
Und es ist gut.
Es ist immer gut zu denken und arbeiten auf Leadership.
Aber du kriegst so viel mehr, wenn du es von deinen Leuten ausmestern, wenn du es ausmestern, wie sie es tun.
So das ist warum, no systems, no results.
Und das ist mein encouragement zu dir.
Wherever you are, whether you are a first-time leader, an experienced executive or a top manager, maybe you are a global CEO, wherever you are in your organization, I encourage you to establish the right leadership system for your company and then help everyone understand and use the system.
Because once the system is there, it can help everyone every day to just become better.
at leading themselves and at leading others.
And if any of these topics resonate with you and you would like a quick personal exchange with me on your situation, in your company, on maybe the one thing that prevents you from doing what's right, the barrier you perceive.
I have seen many of those myself, both in my corporate career, I've been in corporate for 25 years, and as a founder of two healthy Startups and now scaleups.
I've seen it.
I've made many of these mistakes myself.
I'm far from being perfect, but I've seen a lot.
And I would be happy to use all I've learned in our mini-diagnose call, say 20 minutes, to see what the root cause is in your case and whether with one or two suggestions I can help you instantly to get...
The barrier removed and to get the leadership in place that you want to see in your system, that you want to see in your company.
So that's a little bit of an unusual Lightwolf podcast today.
I hope you've enjoyed it.
And should you be interested, don't hesitate.
The link into my calendar is in the show notes.
Book your call and I look forward to seeing you soon for an exchange.
And otherwise, I wish you a terrific week.
Und ich freue mich wieder auf dich wieder auf der Leitwolf-Leadership-Podcast.
Danke.