New year, new goals
WELCOME back to Business West for 2012. The start of a new year always holds a lot of promise with the potential for you to take your business to the next level. It’s no different for the team here at Business West. We are refreshed and ready to tackle another year. We hope to bring you more stories of inspiration, education and triumph from our neck of the woods. The majority of Business West magazines are delivered right to the door of some of the most influential decision makers in Melbourne’s West. In short, the boss reads this magazine. This edition we take a look at management and what it takes to be the person in charge. Business West reporter Charlene Gatt goes one-on-one with three business leaders who are in charge of organisations with varying numbers of staff, levels of turnover, and different products and services. It is interesting to see the different approaches people take when it comes to managing 10 people or managing 100 people. For me, leadership is not something you are born with it is something learned over time (largely through trial and error). You need to take in to account the business, the staff and your own personal attitude when it comes to defining yourself as a leader. Ask yourself what sort of boss do you want to be? Do you lead with the iron fist, command respect but are secretly despised? Or are you Mr Nice Guy, everyone’s buddy but struggle when it comes to dishing out orders? A combination of the two is seemingly the best way to go, but that is easier said than done. Ultimately, the best advice I have ever been given, when it comes to leading a team, co-ordinating a project or being the boss, is: “never think you have all the answers”. If only I could remember where I heard it. Let’s hope it wasn’t in a bad romantic comedy. Anyway, as we dive in to our first publication of the New Year I would like to take this opportunity to remind readers of the unique position Business West has in the publishing world. We are the only niche business publication dedicated solely to the western suburbs of Melbourne. We take the time to know you and your business and put your story directly in to the hands of your fellow business leaders and customers. Printing 5000 copies every six weeks we are committed to highlighting the stories that make the West great; the beginners, the battlers and the masters of their crafts. If you haven’t signed up then do it now and if you have a story to tell then let us know. [BW]
Tim Doutré
tim.doutre@starnewsgroup.com.au