There are so many variables that go into operating an independent brokerage; so much so, that it makes coming up with the brokerage model look like the easy part.

One of the variables that takes (often the most) priority is money. You need to know what you’re spending versus what you’re making and how that adds up (pun intended).

Luckily, there are people out there laser focused on making sure that your business is properly tracking cash flow. One such business is flowpilot.

“flowpilot is the easiest way for businesses to plan and manage their cash flow actively. Cash flow planning has never been this easy!” said Founder and CEO, Bernd Thöne. “Simply upload your accounting data and get an overview of your current and forecasted cashflow. Recognize risks and optimization potentials early as they arise and get tips how to eliminate them. Make better decisions by easy and quick simulations simply without effort.”

Additionally, flowpilot presents a user’s liquidity in clear diagrams after analyzing the cash flow. It also allows a user to see projections up to five years in the future. Features include: precise liquidity management, sound decisions, and cash flow control liquidity calculation.

With flowpilot, users can achieve full transparency about the liquidity of their company. This way, they always know exactly where they stand and flowpilot can help you to make informed decisions.

The system uses real-time data in combination with AI algorithms to calculate liquidity forecasts and scenarios. With this, users can plan more strategically and create secure forecasts.

For liquidity calculations – flowpilot is serves as a financial advisor that is available at all times – the evaluation of a user’s financial data is handled by the program’s AI system.

Users register for free (a 14-day free trial is currently available), upload their initial bookkeeping, and then receive a monthly historical overview of their company, and the ability to intelligently plan cash flow as users automatically receive an informed liquidity plan for the next 12 months.

Lastly, you can recognize risks early on and switch to optimizing finances with scenarios built into the platform.

The company boasts itself as easy, smart, and fast. With a 14-day free trial, it could very well be worth a try for your brokerage for a competitive advantage in a world where only the mega-brokers financially forecast.

Some people use the terms “leader” and “manager” interchangeably, and while there is nothing inherently wrong with this, there is still a debate regarding their similarities or differences.

Is it merely a matter of preference, or are there cut and dry differences that define each term?

Ronald E. Riggio, professor of leadership and organizational psychology at Claremont McKenna College, recently described what he felt to be the difference between the terms, noting the commonality in the distinction of “leadership” versus “management” was that leaders tend to engage in the “higher” functions of running an organization, while managers handle the more mundane tasks.

However, Riggio believes it is only a matter of semantics because successful and effective leaders and managers must do the same things.

They must set the standard for followers and the organization, be willing to motivate and encourage, develop good working relationships with followers, be a positive role model, and motivate their team to achieve goals.

He states that there is a history explaining the difference between the two terms: business schools and “management” departments adopted the term “manager” because the prevailing view was that managers were in charge. They were still seen as “professional workers with critical roles and responsibilities to help the organization succeed, but leadership was mostly not in the everyday vocabulary of management scholars.”

Leadership on the other hand, derived from organizational psychologists and sociologists who were interested in the various roles across all types of groups; so, “leader” became the term to define someone who played a key role in “group decision making and setting direction and tone for the group.

For psychologists, manager was a profession, not a key role in a group.” When their research began to merge with business school settings, they brought the term “leadership” with them, but the terms continued to be used to mean different things.

The short answer is no, the two terms are not the same; simply because leaders and managers need the same skills to productive and respected.

A lot of leadership literature has become “strength’s focused” – using inventories like StrengthsFinder (developed by Gallup). The logic in many ways, is sound. Capitalizing on your strengths and those of your team is significantly more effective than attempts to cover perceived flaws or weaknesses.

The business world has been cited for being too focused on weaknesses (and now parents are too). This a natural inclination for people. For leaders however, we should be bringing our strengths (and the strengths of our teams) to work and making “it” happen.

However, an over focus on strengths isn’t without its own challenges. Tony Schwartz writes for Harvard Business Review, a “well-rounded leader” has a greater opportunity to be more effective. As we seek to leverage our “strengths” let us not forget the complexity of our skill set and how those negatives we see about ourselves can become assets – resources – that we use to manage ourselves and our teams.

Metaphors are common in leadership articles, so I won’t break tradition.

Much like in physical exercise, poor form often causes the overuse of a muscle versus a group of muscles. Poor leadership form, while doing the lifting, leads to an overuse or over-reliance on what is good and comfortable for us.

A pragmatic leader may find themselves unable to make dynamic change move forward. Today’s leaders have to deal with a more complex environment in terms of technology, skills, and demographics. One style of leading will simply not be enough.

The big lesson here is to workout things you don’t think are your best strengths. What are ways you can take those weaknesses and utilize them? How do your rebranded weaknesses make you a good leader for a project or a team? Create opportunities to use your “positive opposites” – those weaknesses that you have rebranded.

PRO TIP: Find a mentor, find a coach, or keep reading about leadership.

You may never be able to develop those skills as strong as your primary, but you will have more leadership muscle to work with. You’ll be delivering a better leader to serve, build, and develop yourself or the organization.

Schwartz discusses the role of choices. We make a lot of choices as leaders – resources, people, what risks, what resources, what costs. When we make those choices working with clients or employees we are always using our mental tool kits.

It doesn’t hurt us to have more tools, most of the time, to allow us to handle situations.

SIDEBAR: It is important to recognize that we only have a limited amount of time. You’re still going to benefit more from developing your strengths – but don’t forget to work out those rebranded weaknesses (the triceps of leadership!). I love an 80/20 perspective – spend 80% of your learning time focused on building up those strengths, spend the other 20% on flexing those rebranded weakness.

A well-balanced leader is not a one-trick pony – they are leaders who can take an organization through many life cycles. If you seek to be some kind of leader, take some time to appreciate your own mix of strengths and weaknesses, and the unique qualities that you bring to a complex world of complex organizations.

Leadership is a whole person endeavor, and don’t skip those weaknesses (just like leg day!).