The content series shows the value of honesty and learning from failures 

It’s no secret that the business of leadership is a highly crowded marketplace.

Leadership training is a billion-pound industry and on the agenda of entrepreneurs, business owners and employees at every level.

Leadership also seeps effortlessly into our personal lives. Self-confessed gurus like Simon Sinek spread their messages through an empire of self-help manuals and viral Facebook videos. Or they influence with trending podcasts, such as those from 4-Hour Work Week author Tim Ferriss.

Whatever their style, they all underline that cultivating leadership qualities should be a daily ritual. And this personal development is far from wasted effort. After all, learning how to effectively motivate, negotiate and manage relationships is as useful at home as it is at work.

A fruitful topic for content, then.

Leadership Lessons

NatWest ContentLive’s ‘Leadership Lessons’ series dives into the world of leadership advice and opinion. Aimed at SMEs, it mixes tips, expert insight and case studies.

Key to the relatability of the series is its honesty: there is just as much of a spotlight on the problems faced by entrepreneurs as there is on their successes.

It’s a natural instinct to pay attention when content speaks to an audience’s pain points. The series shows that it’s okay to make mistakes and fear of failure. And more importantly, it shows that great CEOs and leaders aren’t untouchable, they’re human and fallible too.

Let’s take a look at two articles from the series and learn how their unique approaches help them stand out from the crowd.

Mini entrepreneurs

Who said entrepreneurs had age restrictions?

This article highlights some of the world’s kidpreneurs and what we can learn from such early examples of innovation and drive. There’s no denying that these little people have big ideas and even bigger stories to match.

It opens with a story sure to make even Alan Sugar break out in a sweat. A tale of Henry Patterson, the UK’s youngest entrepreneur (at only 13) who’s created his own sweets, written a book and even set up a not-for-profit foundation.

Essentially, he makes innovation look like child’s play.

It follows with the example of The Budding Entrepreneur Club, a network run by a fellow 13-year-old for mentoring like-minded children. Watch out start-up accelerators because Ollie Forsyth is coming for you.

The article goes further than just telling great stories, it also details the traits that young (and old) entrepreneurs share. Diving into these qualities can really help with assessing your own leadership style, as well as helping you see what you could be missing. There’s even an investor’s perspective of what makes these determined children stand out.

By assessing entrepreneurship at its earliest level, it’s a great example of what strong leadership content should be: informative – but at its heart, personal and relatable.

Channelling fear into success

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself… unless you’re starting a business of course.

Acknowledging your failures is hard enough, but acknowledging that sometimes it’s necessary to fail is often just as difficult. This leadership lesson confronts the entrepreneurial fear of failing. It explores why it’s okay and how CEOs have overcome it. The piece underlines the psychology of fear and how mindful risks can fuel ambition and growth.

An especially useful lesson comes from CEO of One Retail Group, Joshua Stevens. He inverts his anxieties by asking himself: “What’s my fear if I don’t do this? What may happen?”.

At a basic level, Joshua’s mantra is that if you don’t try, then that’s failure in itself. Ultimately it’s always worth it to throw yourself in and take the risks.

For those like Joshua, regret and inaction don’t make passionate leaders. So they’ve tried and may have failed, but they know at least they’ve tried. This piece cements its place in the leadership content canon by shining a light on the comforting reminder that success is never black and white.

The Leadership Lessons series shows a unique side to success – a side we may not expect and a side that certainly isn’t perfect.

It reinforces how effective leadership content should be upfront about hardships, intimately relatable and brutally honest.

Like what you see? Find out how Progressive Content can help your business stand out in the world of leadership content.