I
’ve long been fascinated by how some
entrepreneurs grow their business
significantly, but the majority don’t. What I
learned during my corporate career with a
very successful, entrepreneur-led growth
company—where we grew 50X during
my time there—is that a key differentiating
factor is the leadership philosophy of the
entrepreneur and their willingness to learn the
new leadership skills required to significantly
grow their company. This experience has
been reinforced by my more recent coaching
experience with more than 100 business
leaders and executives.
Simply put, my belief is that the leadership
philosophy and skills demanded of an early-
stage entrepreneur leader are not the same as
those demanded o f, say, the CEO of a publicly
traded company. If an entrepreneur is to grow
their business 50X and avoid becoming the
bottleneck of their company’s growth, they
must be willing to challenge their beliefs and
learn new skills.
Before we get to looking at the specific
leadership skills required, and those that will
need to be adapted, I think we should talk
about the right leadership philosophy to 50X.
Do you aspire to grow your business 50X?
What’s your real purpose in building your
company? Are you trying to solve society’s
problems? Or perhaps you’re trying to improve
your community? Are you trying to improve the
lives of your employees? If you have the will
to grow your business 50X, then answering
these questions is key to adopting the right
leadership philosophy to 50X.
Another fundamental question to answer is
who’s more important, you, or the company?
(Hint: if you want your company to grow 50X,
it’s not you!) Breakthrough companies tend
to be created and led by people who are
determined to build something bigger than
themselves, notes Keith McFarland, author of
the book, The Breakthrough Company. While
our culture seems to perpetuate the myth
of the Lone Ranger leader, it’s the efforts of
many leaders that contribute to a company’s
growth and success. Breakthrough leaders
fundamentally understand that people would
rather serve an institution they feel connected
to and that has a purpose they believe in than
serve as personal minions supporting their
leader’s big dreams. This can be a challenge
to many entrepreneurs, as their personality and
beliefs commonly put themselves at the centre
of their universe.
There are some other leadership beliefs that
entrepreneurs have that need to be debunked
and set aside if they’re to lead their company
to a 50X level. The first is that it’s all about
being smart and that their IQ is what drives
their success. This myth has been debunked
more than 20 years ago when emotional
intelligence research proved that once a leader
has enough IQ to do the job, higher IQ doesn’t
lead to additional success. While it’s often true
that when an entrepreneur founds a company,
the entrepreneur is the smartest about the
business, this commanding style of leadership
only applies in a company’s early growth
stages. Continued successful growth needs
a team of smart people pulling together. An
entrepreneur who sees themselves as being
the only one smart enough or informed enough
to make important decisions is problematic. If
you’re trying to 50X your company, spend time
on becoming a better coach and leader of
leaders.
Here are some specific strengths, beliefs, and
characteristics many entrepreneurs have that
will need to be managed correctly so that they
don’t become weaknesses and work against
you as you strive to 50X your company.
ENTREPRENEURS ARE GREAT AT
FIGURING THINGS OUT
The problem is they do it by themselves, rarely
seeking input or delegating decision making
to others. They figure they are, or need to be,
the smartest person in the room and have
all the answers. To 50X your company, you’ll
have to get confident enough to hire people
as smart or smarter than yourself and create
leaders at every level in the company. Most
entrepreneurs stumble on this step. They build
dependent teams who stand around waiting to
be told what to do. What entrepreneurs need
to 50X a company is to learn to build and lead
a team of other leaders. Doing this requires
that they develop skills many entrepreneurs
don’t have; that is, to delegate effectively and
consciously drive decision making to the
lowest level possible in the company. Skills like
listening and challenging people to solve their
own problems rather than taking the problem
away from them and solving it themselves.
ENTREPRENEURS ARE
OPPORTUNISTIC
Many entrepreneurs prize flexibility and
adaptability and can change directions at the
drop of a hat. Many believe being opportunistic
is critically important to their success. While
being slow to change is not a good leadership
strategy, the unintended consequence of being
opportunistic is not wholeheartedly committing
to anything. This belief devalues the disciplines
of planning, execution, consistency, and
creating a strategy, all of which are required
of breakthrough leadership. A good strategy
says no to many good opportunities so that
you can say yes to the great opportunities.
THEY’RE GREAT UNDER PRESSURE.
If there’s a shot to win the game or carry the day,
the entrepreneur wants to be the one taking it.
They’re great under pressure and score much
higher in tests of this characteristic than do the
CEOs of much larger companies. They also
want to exert a high degree of control. Again,
these strengths can become weaknesses
on the journey to 50X the company as they
translate to leaders “calling their own number”
too often—the exact opposite of what’s
required to build the high-performing team
necessary. Hiring people with the knowledge
and skills to be leaders and then not allowing
them to do so is a common problem and
cause of executive turnover.
THEY’RE OFTEN TOO LOYAL
This often manifests itself as being too slow to
make difficult personnel decisions when they
involve long-standing employees. Coupled
with the items noted above, these traits lead
entrepreneurs to tend to underinvest in the
professional development of their current
leadership team, leaving team members
lacking the necessary skills to lead the 50X
effort.
Although it might seem that an entrepreneur
can’t scale themselves to 50X their company,
this is another myth. I’ve worked alongside
and personally know some entrepreneurs
who’ve done it. Moreover, Keith McFarland’s
research is clear that entrepreneurs can play
an important role in creating a 50X company
if they accept they will need to adapt their
beliefs and learn the skills necessary to avoid
becoming a bottleneck. u
FALL 2018
| 13