(From Forbes)-Leadership is a chess match.  Every decision you make influences your next five decisions.  Unfortunately, many leaders don’t realize the implications of each of their decisions.   It’s like an entrepreneur who battles long and hard to reach their desired goal, and stops 90% of the way, not knowing they only had 10% more to go to get there.   When you don’t know what it takes to cross the finish line, it makes it much more difficult to know the critical resources you might need to win the race.

Successful leadership is a by-product of those resources that you are able to access throughout the course of your career.   Resources that are not given to you, but rather earned as a result of hard work, sacrifices, respect from your peers and career coaches, and the failures that taught you lessons along the way.

Successful leaders are extremely aware of how to detect, enable and maximize their most critical resources – and they know exactly how and when to use them.  For example, I’ve had to make several difficult decisions throughout my leadership career.   My experience has taught me to “detect the patterns” that have influenced the situation at hand and then course correct.   More often than not, I’ve been able to make the right decisions.  However, there have been times that I get stuck and find the need to reach out to a member of my advisory board.

When I do, I am prepared to succinctly explain the situation, associated tension points, inherent risks, financial implications and desired outcomes.  I never take my resources for granted always valuing each advisor’s time.  As such, when requesting assistance, I will express the full-scope of the situation as I understand it, which makes it easier for my advisors to immediately respond and provide their feedback and/or recommendations.     I don’t want to risk losing a resource I worked so hard to earn by wasting their time.

Every resource that you have in your leadership portfolio is a responsibility and must be managed wisely if you want to use that resource more than once.

As a leader, raw talent will only get you so far.  To help you become a more successful leader, here are the six most critical resources you will need to earn and foster  throughout your career.

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