Nine Important Lessons These Entrepreneurs Learned About Being Great Business Leaders

Every team needs someone to turn to for guidance, inspiration and motivation. Without a great leader, a business can quickly become directionless and produce poor results.

As successful business leaders, Young Entrepreneur Council members have learned a lot about effective leadership over the course of their careers. Below, nine of them share some of the lessons they've learned recently and how those lessons have helped them improve their leadership skills and, ultimately, their businesses.

1. Great leaders must be ready to serve

It's always been ingrained in me, but a recent incident proved it to be true. Everyone is understaffed now, including us, and there weren't enough workers to complete a particular manual project. It had to be done, so I took the plunge. It had been years since I had done this kind of work, but I was capable of it. My employees developed a new respect for me because I was willing to work at their level. They also realized that I knew how to do it right. Many employees forget that business owners usually start out by doing all the work themselves, and it showed them that I earned my right to own a business by working hard. - Baruch Labunski, Secure Rank

2. It is important to be transparent with all employees

I recently learned that everyone in a company should know what's going on in the company. Also, I just discovered software that helps me create video activity reports. Over the next month, I'll create a video story with the top things that happened in the last 30 days and share it with everyone involved in our business development team. Being more transparent empowers people and builds trust so they know they're working for a company that cares about them. - Alexandru Stan, Tekpon

3. It is a leader's job to help develop and develop employees

A great leader encourages others, helps them improve their skills, and is rewarded with competent employees who can move mountains. I've always said it's the sign of a great leader if you can help an employee grow to the point that one day they leave you and go on to be very successful in their own company. You will see this trend with some of the greatest entrepreneurs of our time. Some of the most successful businesses (and entrepreneurs) spawn dozens or hundreds of other successful businesses from a single organization. - Andy Karuza, NachoNacho

4. You don't have to do it all yourself

One of the biggest lessons I've learned as a leader in my business is the power of delegation. The belief that "I have to do everything" destroyed the productivity and effectiveness of what I was doing before. The day I started trusting my subordinates and colleagues and started delegating tasks that can be handled in very similar or better way, my life has improved so much. Now I only do the things I love to do...