Anna Wintour’s 9 Tips for Effective Leadership

Leadership is the authority to motivate a group of people to work together to achieve a common goal. It is also the ability to lead and influence others by using a set of behaviors and skills, such as good communication and emotional intelligence.

In a business environment, it is a leader’s job to direct and motivate their team to perform work that supports a company’s mission. A great leader creates an inclusive workplace culture through behaviors and policies to inspire employees to go above and beyond in their work. Good leaders increase employee engagement and productivity to achieve goals. Leaders must design strategies to create a cohesive, productive workforce in order to outperform their competition and positively impact the company’s bottom line.

These are leadership qualities that are essential to being an effective leader:

1. 1. Great communication skills: One of the most important leadership qualities is the ability to listen to your team and share information with them, which will build trust and get buy-in. It’s important to find opportunities to communicate to others what your vision is and what type of leader you are going to be.
2. 2. Authenticity: A true leader is present, aware, and authentic. Clarity, striaght-forwardness, and honesty are traits that are of critical importance for any leader.
3. 3. Emotional intelligence: The best leaders have a high level of emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills that allow them to connect with their team on a human level. Traits of an emotionally intelligent leader include empathy, a positive attitude, creativity, problem solving, critical thinking, and self-awareness.
4. 4. Adaptability: Strong leadership requires the ability to adapt to and be resilient in new situations while keeping an eye on the big picture. Times will be tough. Stay true to your vision.
5. 5. Recognition: To nurture a thriving, productive team, boost morale through recognition. Highlight your team’s contributions, one person at a time. This increases engagement and productivity, and it deepens your workers’ connection to your leadership and to the brand.

Anna believes that once you accept that not everyone will agree with you, and once you resolve to stay true to your own vision, you can be a better leader and manager. Having strength of conviction and communicating your point of view with clarity and decisiveness is the core component of Anna’s leadership style. This applies both to what Vogue shares with its audience as well as to how Anna interacts with her team. Hiring team members who are self-reliant and diverse in their way of thinking and observing the world is key and allows Anna to delegate confidently and trust those working for her.

Anna Wintour is the kind of leader who makes people stand up and take notice. She has an incredible work ethic. She is an influencer on an international scale thanks to her vision, her creativity, her conviction, her great team of people, and her dedication to the Vogue brand. Here are eight of Anna Wintour’s best leadership tips:

1. 1. Own your vision. Build a vision others can believe in. Own and be clear about your vision when communicating it to your team. Know how to successfully execute that vision to move your company in the right direction.
2. 2. Be a changemaker. Over the course of your career, you’ll inevitably have to decide if and when to make bold creative choices. Know when to break the rules and do the unexpected, especially when it will bring attention to your brand. Anna has always worked hard to make sure Vogue remains an integral topic of discussion. If you want to be an influential creative leader who makes their mark on the world, you will have to do the same in your own work.
3. 3. Be strong in decision making. Don’t be afraid to make bold decisions even though not everyone is going to agree with you. Anna believes that once you accept this and resolve to stay true to your own vision, you can be a better leader and manager. Having strength of conviction and communicating your point of view with clarity and decisiveness is the core component of Anna’s leadership style. Indecision can be worse than making the wrong decision.
4. 4. Cultivate new leaders in your industry. As a leader in the fashion industry, Anna felt she had a responsibility to help buoy the next generation of designers. Discovering, advising, and bolstering emerging talent not only helps ensure the future of whatever industry you are in, but it can also inspire you and inform your own work.
5. 5. Build a diverse team. Anna finds the right people to work at Vogue. Her success is supported by a talented group of people, like great writers, editors, and photographers. When it comes to building your business, your team should be as diverse as possible—different backgrounds, experiences, ages, and opinions. Hire with the goal of covering your blind spots: Surround yourself with people who will inform the judgment calls you make and the content you put out.
6. 6. Don’t micromanage. If you trust your team, you can avoid micromanaging. This doesn’t mean you can’t be detail-oriented—Anna reads every word that goes into the magazine and approves every look for fashion stories, but she also empowers her editors to make decisions on her and the brand’s behalf.
7. 7. Stay engaged with the wider world beyond your industry. The lessons for a creative leader are the same no matter what your business’ focus is. Keeping your eyes and ears open to the world around you and encouraging your deputies to do the same is an essential quality for a leader in any industry.
8. 8. Know and love your audience. Anna is a firm believer that having a passion for your audience is vital. The mark of a successful leader is fostering transparency with your audience. The September Issue, R.J. Cutler’s 2009 documentary charting the production of Vogue’s annual September issue (the largest of the year), gave the Vogue audience unprecedented access to the inner workings of one of the most prestigious magazines in the world. Taking the audience behind the scenes was a bold decision, which is what makes Anna Wintour one of today’s greatest leaders.
9. 9. Use your position to make an impact. It is important to always be thinking about how you can have the biggest impact on your industry and lend the most support to those in need. You should always try to use your platform to do the most good. Anna says, “Engage with whatever is happening in the world in a thoughtful way, and stand up for what you believe is right. Take a point of view, and be thoughtful about it, and stand by your convictions.”

Whether you’re starting our own business or a veteran CEO looking to brush up on the basics, understanding the ins and outs of people management, team building, and effective workplace communication can make all the difference between a successful business venture and an unsuccessful one. No one knows this better than Anna Wintour, who has served as Vogue magazine’s editor-in-chief since 1988. In Anna Wintour’s MasterClass on creativity and leadership, the current Artistic Director of Condé Nast provides her distinct and priceless insight into everything from hiring and managing a successful team to how to best serve the right audience.

Want to become a better business leader? The MasterClass Annual Membership provides exclusive video lessons from business luminaries, including Anna Wintour, Bob Iger, Sara Blakely, Howard Schultz, and more.

Get the MasterClass Annual Membership for exclusive access to video lessons taught by business luminaries, including Geno Auriemma, Robin Roberts, Chris Voss, Sara Blakely, Daniel Pink, Bob Iger, Howard Schultz, Anna Wintour, and more.