The makings of a lousy business owner
Are you the one bringing your business to its own demise?

There’s no universal formula to success in business, essentially because each business has its own unique needs, strengths and weaknesses. However, what we can all agree on is that having the right attitude and behavior when you’re the person leading the company is always good way to start your journey in realizing your business and personal goals.

As a business coach, my job is to make everything clearer and measurable so you as a business owner can make intelligent decisions and engage into better habits. While there’s no perfect way for me to dictate with certainty what every business owner should do — again, it’s a case-to-case basis — I can definitely point out things they shouldn’t do.

These attributes of a bad leader are what usually causes people within a company to go out of sync with each other or, as a worst-case scenario, a complete business meltdown. See if you’re guilty with some of them.

Failing to outline a clear direction for the company to take

Some businesses start out having well-defined objectives to shoot for, and yet they end up getting sidetracked because the owner keeps on tweaking and fiddling with the flow of things. Other businesses don’t even have any sort of established goal at all. You can’t expect a business to take off without a clear path. It’s the leader’s job to make sure everyone is riding the same boat and paddling towards the same direction.

Eluding tough decisions by making excuses and blaming others

Whenever your business is at a certain crossroads, it can be quite difficult to be the one to decide which buttons to push. It’s a necessary evil, and it’s the ultimate test of leadership. But no good will ever come out of sidestepping that responsibility, especially when you cowardly attribute things to external forces (mistakes of other people, bad luck) to take the heat off of yourself.

Obsessive micromanaging and refusing to delegate

Nobody is good at everything. And even if somebody is, that person still wouldn’t be able to do all things at once. If you’re a business owner, you shouldn’t be wasting a big chunk of your precious time correcting typos on your corporate blog or sorting records book in alphabetical order. If you don’t learn how to trust people to do their jobs, soon they’ll stop caring about your company.

Not knowing how to properly provide feedback

A lot of business leaders underestimate the power of an appropriately-conveyed feedback to an employee or service provider. The things you say to someone after a task has been completed or a mistake has been committed can make or break how that person is going to continue to perform in the future. The purpose of feedback is not just for you to say something, but for the recipient of that feedback to learn something.


These are the no-no behaviors when you’re a business owner, and that’s not even half of it. And this is where I come in. As a business coach, my mission is to help business owners develop a positive, structured and resilient attitude in keeping the company afloat.
###