The nature of the business does not matter because the techniques are applicable to all – including Not-For-Profit and Public Service SMEs / SMBs.
However, there is no doubt that the combined attitudes and leadership styles of the CEO and other members of the management team have significant influence on the take-up rate and hence degree of success for the whole business. To empower employees to become self-starters and for them to be keen to work in small autonomous teams when implementing strategy and improving processes, the collective leadership style of the management team should be more towards Coach (does WITH people) or Enabler (does THROUGH people) rather than Director (does TO people) or Hero (does FOR people).