Leadership in the current day and age has the power to inspire and influence others to achieve a common goal. Being an exceptional leader involves welcoming diversity and inclusivity, encouraging collaboration, whilst empowering both teams and individuals to keep innovating, solving problems and adapting to endlessly changing circumstances.
Exceptional leaders exhibit robust skills in communication, ethical decision making and a willingness to never stop learning, growing, and adapting. They embrace technological solutions to keep making well informed decisions for the company, driving growth, and prioritizing the well-being and success of their employees.
InfoTrack’s Country Manager, Brendan Smart, has worked within the legal technology industry for almost 14 years. A company veteran, Brendan first joined the InfoTrack Group of Companies in 2010 beginning his career as a Business Development Manager. Brendan quickly exceeded expectations, which led to promotions as National Sales Manager, General Manager of Sales, Business Strategy & Development, Chief Revenue Officer and now Country Manager of InfoTrack Australia.
Within his current role, Brendan and his team of experienced Executives have a core focus on leading and guiding their teams to support clients, pioneer new markets and set the company strategy for InfoTrack Australia. Brendan firmly believes in complete transparency by effectively conveying the game plan throughout the entire organisation. He consistently keeps a close eye on performance and provides valuable support to various teams, emphasising the accomplishment of business objectives.
His pivotal role in accelerating revenue growth for InfoTrack is undeniable. Brendan believes in “leading from the front” and takes inspiration from providing a technological solution to clients that will change their businesses and the way they work.
We recently sat down with Brendan to ask him some questions about his exceptional leadership, and experience with other leaders over his career.
This is what he said:
What do you see as an essential trait of an exceptional leader?
I have always believed that exceptional leaders need 5 key “can’t-succeed-without" traits. They need to be:
1. Honest
2. Self-aware
3. Competent
4. Inspirational
5. Forward thinking
They should seek out opportunities to serve their people and add value to their roles and lives. During both challenging times and times of abundant success good leaders need to be good story tellers - their ability to sell the vision and take people along the journey by achieving buy-in at multiple levels is mission critical.
What is the strongest leadership quality you feel you bring to your role?
I have an inherent understanding of people and what makes them tick. I seek to always be honest and direct, yet polite and consistently aware of how people receive my message and what I’m trying to get across. I pride myself on being able to inspire a sense of mission.
How have great leaders impacted you in your career?
A number of great leaders have had an impact on my career, at times by imparting valuable advice that has stayed with me and stood me in good stead, and at other times simply by their actions toward me and others. Equally so, bad leaders have impacted my career, but in a positive way, by assisting me to define characteristics and behaviours that should be avoided. Essentially, “how not to be” and “what not to do”.
What is the impression you always want to leave people with, no matter their position within the business?
That I’m approachable, I care about my people and will make time for anyone. I am no more important or busy than anyone else at InfoTrack – we are all part of the same important collective, on the same mission to service our clients beyond their expectations, create and build innovative products that make their professional lives easier, and build an indelible culture of winners who care about each other no matter what, whilst getting the job done.
There’s no handbook on exceptional leadership and it's not always a one size fits all, which is why we see success stories from leaders who adopt different leadership styles. There are numerous approaches to being able to influence people and outcomes whilst conveying a unified vision - the constant is being able to take into account how your decision-making affects both your employees and your business alike.
Leadership is a lifelong journey of learning and growth, and by embracing Brendan’s principles of exceptional leadership, one can make a lasting impact on those around them and achieve remarkable success.
