Want To Be a Successful Business Leader? You Can Be in 8 Easy Steps Learn to say no, and put time on your calendar to think.

As a business leader, is your management style dependent on the situation? Or do you instinctively adapt your style to suit specific conditions?

I interviewed Serguei Beloussov, CEO of global tech and cyber security firm Acronis, at their Global Cyber Summit in Miami, FL. When asked about his personal leadership style, Beloussov shared a story about a hockey game he attended in Finland. One of the teams was more skilled, but the other team was playing faster. "While the faster team made more mistakes, their speed made it impossible for the skillful team to keep up, and the faster team won," explained Beloussov. "One thing about leadership style is that I try to operate in a situation where there is a lot of change, and in those situations, you always operate faster than it's possible to organize." He went on to say that situations like this force you to "do things that may look impossible first," and that styles of leadership always change to meet the demands of the situation. "The main thing is that you have to be detail-oriented and you have to be hands-on, and you have to be ready to adjust your style."

In today's business and economic climate it's never been more critical to have the capacity to adapt. Beloussov's advice inspired me to critically think about daily habits, the ones that successful business leaders engage in every day. Here are eight habits that most business leaders tend to agree on.