In this episode of our Strategy and Leadership Podcast, we welcomed Zvi Band, the Co-founder and CEO of Contactually and author of Success Is in Your Sphere.
Zvi has a diverse background, starting as a software engineer out of college and eventually evolving into the leader he is today. In addition to his career, Zvi is involved in his community and supports building relationships in both his personal and professional life.
As Zvi began to grow into his leadership role at Contactually, he had imposter syndrome through the early years of the company’s development. It wasn’t until he worked with an outside management consultant that he learned the people within the company referred to him as a leader. This moment helped Zvi move on from the imposter syndrome to be more intentional about developing company culture.
Throughout his development process as a leader, Zvi has learned a variety of tips and best practices for becoming a successful leader that he shared with us during our interview:
- To develop as a successful leader, it’s important to look at what the company needs in a leader at the moment: what are the current or upcoming challenges and what kind of leadership is needed to overcome them.
- Rituals and artifacts are an important part of company culture development and growth. Leaders can support the development of culture by starting positive rituals that engage their people, like introducing funny awards given out at an annual event.
- Successful leaders can help inspire their teams by developing a company that they and their teams want to work for and within by continually analyzing what could make the workplace better for everyone.
- To gain additional perspective, organizational leaders can seek outside leadership and mentorship opportunities to develop their skills and build networks and relationships with other industry professionals in the area.
- Building relationships within the workplace should transcend workplace transactions and focus on developing impactful relationships to really understand each other within the office. Once relationships are developed, it’s easier to share values and support each other in personal and business development.