Being “street smart” is an important part of being a leader. What follows are five areas* you can develop to improve your performance as a leader. As with all things we discuss, do not do anything that will show a lack of humility, engender disrespect, or show a lack of trust. 
 
1) Be Aware
     i) Trust your intuition
     ii) Develop perceptiveness and the ability to anticipate
     iii) Size up people quickly and accurately
     iv) Take a helicopter view of situations 
 
2) Have Confidence
     i) Be a continual learner
     ii) Show confidence but don’t become insolent or arrogant
     iii) Have a steadfast confidence in your ability 
 
3) Be a Healthy Skeptic
     i) Don’t believe everything you see and hear
     ii) Be hard to take advantage of
     iii) Stay on guard…check out generalizations
     iv) Give people the time and rope to either hang themselves or prove their integrity and sincerity 
 
4) Show Resourcefulness
     i) Think quickly on your feet
     ii) Be persistent and consistent
     iii) Be prepared and flexible
     iv) Create relationships with experts & contacts 
 
5) Be a Risk Taker 
     i) Take risks but don’t bet the farm
     ii) Minimize any possible down side
     iii) Cut your losses and get out quickly if proven wrong
     iv) Don’t fear failure…learn by your mistakes 
 
You need to ensure that your newly acquired “street smarts” will not be perceived as arrogance. A lot of the above thinking and actions are done internally, so think very carefully in an empathetic fashion before taking any actions that could be misconstrued.

What do you think? Have any further tips?

Best regards
Ken Wright
Ken@engage4results.com