Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO and co-founder of social media giant Facebook, is one of the most powerful leaders walking the planet. In 2004, he founded Facebook from his student room and today, 13 years later, Facebook's value is estimated at around $430 billion. An incredible business growth that every CEO can envy. But besides being powerful and an incredible innovator, Mark Zuckerberg is also a great leader. In this blog article we do not tell you how your company can grow into a billion-dollar company like Facebook, but we draw lessons from the leadership style of Mark Zuckerberg.

Critical thinking

Real leaders encourage debate and discussion. This way, a dialogue is established sooner and a quick response can be given to things that go wrong. Mark Zuckerberg's management style is a typical example of this. As a leader, he always has the need to delve deeper into problems and ideas in order to really make a difference. This creates a more effective work process and a better result in the long term. As he once quoted: “ideas are created by sparring with each other and thinking critically.”

As a leader, take the time to look critically at projects to achieve maximum results.

Solving a problem

Where many managers think in terms of problems, Mark Zuckerberg is focused on solving problems. As Mark Zuckerberg quoted in a biography of him: “I ask myself almost every day what is the most important thing I can do.” Of course, every company has problems that need to be solved, but Mark Zuckerberg considers every day which problem is most relevant to solve. Not only for the company, but also for the consumer.

As a leader, do not ignore problems within the organization and try to come up with a solution for everything.

Effective communication

While many leaders try to reach their employees through department managers, Mark Zuckerberg takes the time to reach his employees himself. This process of course takes a lot of time, but it is ultimately effective communication on. It is not without reason that Facebook was built to make communication between people easier. Facebook employees are not surprised when Mark Zuckerberg walks around the department on Monday morning and has a chat with everyone. Despite his status, Mark Zuckerberg is a leader who is easily approachable within the company. This low threshold allows for more transparency and knowledge sharing within the organization, where employees have more of a voice and are more likely to make their ideas heard.

Communication is the key to success within a company and as a leader you must take the lead in this.

Patience

Mark Zuckerberg is always patient and disciplined in achieving his goals. He has waited until the ideal moment for various projects. Consider the launch of Facebook Advertising, the taking of Facebook to the stock exchange or the acquisition of Instagram. In the latter, Facebook acquired the company Instagram for 2012 billion dollars in 1, while the company barely had any turnover. Now, 5 years later, Instagram has already achieved a turnover equal to the purchase value: 1 billion dollars.

As a leader, be patient, success does not happen overnight. Have your goal in mind and choose the right time to achieve your goals.

Vision

A final lesson in leadership is being Mark Zuckerberg vision. According to his colleagues, most people think from day to day or week to week, where Mark Zuckerberg thinks from century to century. A true leader has a long-term vision and Mark Zuckerberg is the ultimate example of this. For example, look at how he is currently responding Virtual Reality, where he entered into a partnership with Samsung.

As a leader, take the time to convey a vision within the organization.

Founding the next social media giant may not be for you, but that doesn't mean you can't be a leader like Mark Zuckerberg. Do you want to improve your leadership qualities? Then discover the Kenneth Smit training 'Inspiring leadership for directors and senior management'.