One of my favorite leaders and a genuinely epic coach, Simon Sinek, says, "If you don't understand people, you don't understand business."

The importance of people leadership shouldn't be underestimated — a business is more than pushing buttons and tallying numbers on spreadsheets. The people part of business is what drives everything.

So do you understand people?

Building a great business is inherently intertwined with being a great leader. Building trust, empowering others, and making them feel seen and valued impact your people's motivation and loyalty. The result? Higher productivity, more ideas brought forward, better customer experiences — the list goes on.

Now, you can be the kind of leader who gives orders and ticks off boxes. Or you can seek to understand your people, support their needs, coach them to their potential and beyond, and inspire more leadership. Which do you think creates an unstoppable legacy?

We see people leadership as both an art and a science. There are the more technical aspects of leading people teams — challenging them, giving and receiving feedback, and leading through crisis. The art, on the other hand, involves trust-based vulnerability, listening, and other EQ skills that are no less crucial to creating a cohesive, inspired team.

Enriching your skills in these areas and building trust among your teams translates beyond the operation and into the community. Healthy teams and workplaces are more resilient, since a well-run operation builds consumer confidence in the business. AND, a healthy workplace culture attracts and retains talent.

There are really no downsides to getting the people parts of leadership right. People leadership powers successful businesses and makes the world better.