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Obviously, there’s middle ground too, consultant, an advisory role, the original voice creating value where you can — but if not cash-in or lead — and who doesn’t want to be the leader? Hell, you’re already a proven entrepreneur — you created a successful start-up, check! Task-master? Check! Vision? Check! Passion? Check! Laser focus? Check, check, check! All fantastic skills — and it’s completely possible that none of them will help you lead the company that your start-up will become. Truth is, the single-minded, grinding passion that got your start-up off the ground and on the verge of escaping gravitational pull, are not the same tools required to spend the next five years in profitable orbit. In fact, entrepreneurial leadership mentality can be a big part of the reason that a significant percentage of start-ups fail to scale. (BTW, failing to scale happens so often that fail to scale is practically a meme. It’s right up there with founders flounder.) But damn the torpedoes, if you want to stay and shoot for the stars then here are a few things to think about before you slide into the pilot’s chair. Your laser should be less-focused There’s nothing cleaner than the entrepreneurial mind when it locks on to an idea with great potential. There’s a rush to it, the lightning realization that you’ve got a tiger by the tail. It’s probable that if you look back over the course of your start-up, you spent the best part of twenty-four hours a day with the tiger, training it to perform in precisely the right way so the market would fall in love with it. And you can thank your laser focus for the market’s sudden attention, the quality and differentiation of the idea, the ability to spend days hunkered in a think tank with your team, the market analysis, the MVP development — that focus got you here to start with. But as a company grows, an inexperienced entrepreneurial leader will often play to their strength, fall back on laser focus and devote too much energy to a single issue — and it can damage a growing organization. Research and ideation are downward facing exercises, and no matter how comfortable you may be doing those things, a growing
company is looking nowhere but up and out, and its leadership, while not losing sight of the day-to-day, must also be focused on the horizon. Greg Cessna, is an entrepreneur-in-residence at Auburn’s New Venture Accelerator, and has just been named as the National Association of Corporate Directors’, Private Company Director of the Year. Which if you’re not aware is a big, New York City, black tie, kind of a deal. Greg’s been involved with dozens of growing companies, watched as entrepreneurs took the helm and says that if you’re not prepared to lead “there’s always a pivot point, where you have to step back and recognize that it’s either going to outrun you, or you’re gonna kill it. Fifty percent of those trying to make the leap to leadership don’t make it, they tap out on growth or struggle with culture. You were the idea, and now you have to rely on others to do what you used to, and you don’t have the confidence that people will make the same decision you would. It’s the intricacies of interdisciplinary leadership — how to get manufacturing to work with engineering to understand customer service. Most entrepreneurs don’t get that piece. When the realization comes, the entrepreneur most often either sells the business, or hires a true executive who can handle the task." According to Greg, “When that happens, the weakness often gets exposed publicly — the company’s too reliant on the entrepreneur’s performance and they have to build a management team. Venture capitalists are very good at picking up on that, and the business often has to be sold for less.” Nobody said it was easy. Great leaders have 20/20 bi-focal vision — one lens seeing around blind corners on the next block, the other making sure the company gets to the next block. For entrepreneurs, learning to focus your long-term vision can be a vital growth tool to leadership success. Remember that a task is not a goal, and executing brilliantly on a short-term assignment may only do so much for long-term strategy. That’s why developing a strategic plan for your young company is of two- fold benefit; it creates not only a roadmap for the company’s future, but a reliable cheat-sheet that keeps you looking forward in your leadership journey. Your passion isn’t the only passion that matters Introverted entrepreneurs are often brilliant grinders, working in isolation, eyes on the prize, never letting outside voices interfere with their mission. Passionate isolation can be a powerful catalyst for groundbreaking ideas. Look at Darwin, Turing, Marie Curie, all renowned for passionate belief in their work, leading to great success in their fields. But ask them to gladhand with potential investors at a conference and pitch their company to the world? They would have leapt out windows. Which is to say that your passion for the idea alone, is not enough to sustain what it will become. Company leaders
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