Leadership Styles for Small Business Owners | BizBuzz – E#-119

Welcome back to BizBuzz! In this episode, sponsored by MyWorkbelt, host Sreedhar Kaluva sits down with Bernie Kerschbaum, former CEO and now Founder and CEO of Skalios LLC, a business coaching company focused on helping business owners become stronger and more effective leaders. Bernie also chairs a peer-to-peer leadership group, where he works directly with small business owners on improving not only how they operate their businesses, but how they lead their teams.

First, Bernie and Sreedhar explore an important question that many business owners rarely consider: how much valuable leadership thinking already exists outside the United States, and how often those ideas are overlooked by businesses here.

Bernie uses a surprisingly simple example—something as everyday as parking garage signage—to demonstrate a much bigger leadership lesson. Great ideas do not always have to originate inside your own company, industry, or even country. Sometimes the most effective improvements come from observing what works elsewhere and thinking about how those ideas could be applied differently.

Next, the conversation focuses on the difference between simply copying a successful idea and adapting it. Bernie explains that effective leaders can take what works in one environment, combine it with successful approaches from somewhere else, and adapt those ideas to fit their own organization, employees, and business challenges.

Moreover, this mindset encourages business owners to look beyond familiar leadership practices. Instead of waiting until something goes wrong before making changes, leaders can continuously learn from different industries, cultures, businesses, and management styles.

This episode also kicks off a new BizBuzz series focused on leadership styles and practical leadership lessons. The series is designed for business owners and leaders who want to keep improving—not simply fix problems after they happen.

For service-based small business owners, the discussion provides a useful perspective on how stronger leadership can begin with curiosity, observation, and a willingness to learn from ideas that may come from unexpected places.

MyWorkbelt is an all-in-one software solution built for service-based small businesses. It helps manage day-to-day business operations in one place, allowing owners to spend less time juggling multiple tools and more time focusing on running and growing their business.

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In conclusion, this BizBuzz episode explores leadership development, business coaching, global leadership ideas, and the importance of continuously improving how you lead your team. If you run a service business and are thinking about how to become a better leader, strengthen your team, and approach leadership with a fresh perspective, this episode is for you.

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