Name: Enver Kannur

Title: Partner

Organisation: ADPL LLP

An accountant by profession and an entrepreneur by choice.

Thank you to the 2,000 leaders who’ve generously done the 7 Questions on Leadership!

We’ve gone through the interviews and asked the best of the best to come back and answer 7 MORE Questions on Leadership.

I hope Enver's answers will encourage you in your leadership journey. Enjoy!

Cheers,

Jonno White

1. As a leader, how do you build trust with employees, customers and other stakeholders?

I think honesty and straight forward approach is the best way and in my view the only way to achieve trust with everyone.

However, sometimes honesty is expensive as people don’t want to hear the truth, and you end up losing, but in the long run, it’s the best policy.

2. What do 'VISION' and 'MISSION' mean to you? And what does it actually look like to use them in real-world business?

Vision is to create, and Mission is the act of creating the Vision. Vision in a business sense is to create the best for your company. However, this means different things to different people.

My Vision was to build an accounting firm that would reply to every query within 2 hours. The mission was to communicate that to the Team with why and the importance of that Vision.

3. How can a leader empower the people they're leading?

In most cases, people are happy to do what they are entrusted with.

As a leader, it’s our responsibility to let them get on with it by providing the right training and resources.

However, the responsibility in its entirety can never be left to just those individuals; as a leader, it’s our responsibility also to support them.

So the following helps empower our team:

Support

Emphaty

Authority

Joint responsibility

4. Who are some of the coaches or mentors in your life who have had a positive influence on your leadership? Can you please tell a meaningful story about one of them?

It has to be my father & my first boss.

My father was a trader, and his word was his bond! Once my gather promised or gave his word, he would move mountains to keep his word. Also, he would not run from confronting the issue at hand.

There are several stories. One of them is about confronting the issue. At one point, as a wholesaler of Fruit & Vegetables, he called a Grower out who was saying incorrect information about him. He was direct and honest with everyone.

5. Leadership is often more about what you DON'T do. How do you maintain focus in your role?

This is a tough one! Going back to Vision and Mission keeps you focused, but there are other things to consider and perform as a leader, which at times make it difficult to maintain the Focus.

Consistency and perseverance are needed to keep coming back to Vision and Mission.

6. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Everyone plans differently. How do you plan for the week, month and years ahead in your role?

I love this quote! It’s part of my LinkedIn profile headline.

Like most people, I have different roles and I need to plan for them separately.

I usually plan weekly for the week ahead on Sundays or, worst, on Mondays. That makes my plan for the month and year ahead easy to maintain.

7. What advice would you give to a young leader who is struggling to delegate effectively?

Delegation is a must if you want to achieve anything.

There are a number of quotes about a team being better than a single person.

One of the best ones is: "Individual talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships." – Michael Jordan.

Delegation done well works well. However, the Delegation of work does that mean the delegation of responsibility.

Responsibility still rests with the person who delegated the work. This is the most important part of Delegation.

You can delegate the work, but not the responsibility! Once you grasp this, delegation is very easy and enjoyable.