Anton Guinea
Entrepreneur, Speaker, bestselling author, and founder of The Guinea Group of Companies. For over 15 years, Anton has helped leaders move their teams to become psychologically safe, physically safe and overall better versions of themselves.
Do you want more influence in your team, or are you still waiting for the authority that makes people listen?
The leaders who carry the most influence are not the loudest. They are not the most charismatic. They are not the ones with the flashiest title.
They are the ones who take ownership.
If you want more influence, start there.
why leaders must own before they lead
I say this often in workshops and boardrooms. You cannot lead what you refuse to own.
Ownership is not about control. It is about responsibility. It is the decision to say, “This is on me.”
I’ve seen leaders blame the market. Blame the board. Blame the team. Blame “culture”. The moment blame enters the room, influence walks out.
When I wrote about taking ownership in leadership decisions, I made it clear. Accountability is not a soft skill. It is a credibility skill.
And credibility is the foundation of influence.
There’s research that backs this up. Studies in organisational behaviour show that when leaders model accountability, teams report higher trust and performance. You can see this link between trust and leadership outcomes in research like this study on trust in leadership.
I don’t need a journal to tell me it works. I’ve watched it play out hundreds of times.
When a leader says, “I got that wrong,” something shifts in the room. Shoulders drop. Defensiveness fades. Respect grows.
Ownership builds influence because it builds safety.
building trust and influence through accountability
If your team does not trust you, your influence is borrowed. And borrowed influence expires quickly.
I’ve written before about building trust in leadership. Trust is not built by promises. It is built by patterns.
Patterns of owning mistakes.
Patterns of following through.
Patterns of holding yourself to the same standard you expect from others.
There’s strong evidence that psychological safety plays a role here. Amy Edmondson’s work on psychological safety shows that teams perform better when people feel safe to speak up.
And here’s what I’ve learned.
People feel safe when leaders own outcomes.
When something goes wrong and the leader immediately looks for who to blame, the team goes quiet. When the leader says, “Let’s look at what I could have done differently,” the team leans in.
That is the connection between ownership and leadership credibility.
If you want to foster this in your team, I’ve also explored how leaders can foster accountability to boost team productivity. It starts with you. Every time.
taking initiative as a leadership trait
Ownership is not passive.
It is not waiting to be told.
It is not hiding behind your job description.
Ownership is initiative.
I often ask leaders in my sessions, “If something breaks in your culture, who fixes it?”
If the answer is “HR” or “head office” or “someone else”, we have work to do.
Influential leaders step forward before they are asked.
They raise the issue first.
They start the hard conversation.
They model the behaviour.
There is research connecting leadership accountability with ethical behaviour and stronger organisational outcomes, such as this paper on ethical leadership and responsibility. When leaders take initiative and act responsibly, people follow.
personal responsibility and professional influence
Let me be direct.
If you cannot manage yourself, you cannot influence others.
I survived a near-fatal workplace incident early in my career. That moment forced me to take responsibility for my mindset, my reactions, and my leadership. No one else could do that for me.
Influence starts inside.
When I lose control under pressure, I lose influence. When I stay composed, I keep it.
I’ve written about staying calm in high-stress moments and how leaders can regulate themselves. There’s also research exploring the relationship between self-regulation and leadership effectiveness, like this work on leadership and psychological processes.
Here’s what I tell leaders bluntly.
Your team watches what you do when things go wrong.
That is where your influence is either strengthened or destroyed.
influence is expressed through communication
You can own everything internally. But if you cannot communicate it clearly, your influence stays trapped in your head.
I see this often. Leaders take responsibility quietly. They think it. They feel it. But they do not articulate it.
Influence requires expression.
That is why I’m passionate about helping leaders present with clarity and conviction. In our presenting with influence workshop, we work on shaping messages that gain buy-in and inspire action.
Ownership must be visible.
If you want people to follow you, they must hear your intent. They must see your standards. They must feel your conviction.
what this means for you
Let me ask you something.
When was the last time you publicly owned a mistake?
When was the last time you stepped forward before being asked?
When was the last time you said, “That culture issue starts with me”?
Influence is not granted. It is earned through repeated acts of responsibility.
If you want your team to raise standards, raise yours first.
If you want accountability, model it.
If you want courage, go first.
This is the work I do with leaders across Australia. Through keynotes. Through coaching. Through structured leadership programs. If you are serious about strengthening ownership in your leadership team, you can start a conversation with me here.
Or if you are ready to bring this message into your organisation, you can book me to work with your team and we can build influence from the inside out.
Ownership is not glamorous.
It is not loud.
But it is powerful.
And if you truly want more influence, start by asking yourself one question.
What am I still refusing to own?
Please click the image below if you’d like to chat about what leadership means to you
If you would like to learn more about Anton or The Guinea Group, please click here to book into Anton’s calendar, to:
UPGRADE your Mindset
UPSKILL your Leadership
UPLIFT your Teams