Tag: entrepreneurs

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BLG Leadership Insights Features

Leadership: Limos, Taxis & Subways

Recently, I was sitting around having a discussion with three friends of mine: a young entrepreneur who’s just trying to figure out how to make it, a small business owner who tries to keep it going, and a CEO who is trying to master the universe.

We were just meeting for a cup of coffee on 7th avenue, but the conversation quickly spilled into leadership. It usually does when business people meet academics.

“You guys don’t understand–we run a monster.  Everyday I worry about thousands of people,” said the CEO. “Try to do what I do and you’ll have a different concept of leadership!”

The debate began. The CEO declared that as a master of the universe he had unfathomable skills.

Does the size of the organization and the complexity of the organization necessitate a completely unique type of leadership? To put it differently, if you are the limo-driven CEO instead of the taxi-riding small-business guy or the subway-hitching first-level start-up entrepreneur, do you really have a different model of leadership in your head?

That was the gist of the discussion.

The young entrepreneur was talking about getting venture capital, trying to sell his ideas and get his foot in the door. The taxi-riding small-business guy talked about keeping his group together and getting their products to market without being overwhelmed by excess demand or limited resources. The CEO spent a disproportionate amount of time talking about keeping his VP’s moving along, his organization upbeat, and the board of directors off his neck.

Sounds like different types of leadership right?

No. Not at all.

It became clear that all of them were simply concerned with their capacity to move their ideas, keep people in their corners, and make sure they didn’t drop the ball. They were all concerned about the micro-skills of persuasion and  mobilizing.

In a taxi, in a limo, or in the subway, these leaders are thinking about the same type of leadership–it’s leadership with a small ‘l’ and it’s leadership as a specific set of tools.

Clearly each leader has a different agenda. The CEO has to balance multiple agendas of many stakeholders. The young entrepreneur has to push one or two agendas up the hill. And the small-business guy has to juggle his unique set of priorities to keep the ship moving. But in each case they need leadership that gives them the capacity to build and move things alone.

So, the important lesson: it’s about the nuts and bolts, about your micro skills of leadership no matter how big your organization is and no matter how small your responsibilities are. Whether you are limo-driven CEO, cab-hopping leader of a small business, or a start-up entrepreneur riding the subway, you essentially have to develop and maintain the same leadership skills.

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BLG Leadership Insights Leadership On the Edge

10 Must-Read Social Media & Leadership Stories From July 5-9

1. 11 ‘tragic’ behaviors leaders should probably certainty unlearn.

2. Here’s your que to breath a sigh of relief: Maybe you don’t need a social media strategy.

3. Leadership and life evaluation from Bill Murry’s unique perspective.

4. Learning some compelling HR pointers from a soccer club in the Netherlands.

5. Key steps leaders can take to avoid becoming irrelevant.

6. Interesting examples of good, bad, and ugly corporate social media strategies.

7. 4 solid lessons from entrepreneurs who made it in college.

8. The story behind 15 great companies and how they named themselves.

9. America’s distant relationship with soccer and the World Cup.

10. The odd time-line of a brand’s legacy: The Popsicle.

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BLG Leadership Insights

Self-Publishing: A Lesson in Proactive Leadership

Angela K. Durden is her own publisher and she thinks the old publishing time-line, submit-wait-pray, is dead.

Durden is her own writer, editor, designer, quality-control manger, marketer, and saleswomen and she likes it that way. It gives her ownership of her work and she doesn’t have to chase down “distributors, bookstores and wholesalers.” She’s also happy that she doesn’t have to wait and pray any longer. She can get to work instead. Her home-based publishing company has released a business book and a children’s book.

Affordable technology has revived America’s slumbering cottage industries. Independent entrepreneurs like Durden can now sell quality services and products to customers and business with a decent computer and an internet connection.

The growth of cottage industries and home-based entrepreneurs can also inform our definition and perception of what a proactive leader really is.

Small business owners don’t operate in a large collective but it doesn’t mean they act alone. They aren’t making business decisions and trying to capitalize on new ideas by simply running full steam ahead with blinders on. Smart small business owners like Durden act slowly and with the support of their families, prospective customers, and advice from friends and mentors. They take measured moves forward in order to avoid costly mistakes.

Next, small business owners do their homework. In Durden’s case publishing her books made sense, even though it wasn’t exactly the norm. She met resistance, but she was prepared with rebuttals. She knew that publishing her work with an old brick-and-mortar publisher was slow and unlikely to happen if she didn’t have a “platform.” Instead, she argued that her work would be successful in her market and at her price points. All she needed was a quality product. By knowing what her critics were going to say, she was a step ahead of the game.

Successful home-based business owners also know that they have to work doubly as hard to establish legitimacy. Small business owners don’t have the luxury of office space, petty cash, and extra frills to entice new clients. Instead they have to work on relationships and build solid networks. It’s not an easy job, but it’s one small business owners have to work on continually.

Lastly, cottage-industry entrepreneurs have to know when and how to divide their time and resources. It’s a delicate balancing act that is often done over a shark-filled pool. Small business owners like Durden have to know which companies she can trust to print her book, lest she waste money, and which speaking engagements to make in order to promote her book. It’s a skill that must be developed quickly in the tense environment of a small business.

The skills home business owners use are the same skills leaders in Fortune 500 companies use. Staying proactive in any leadership position requires that you have the micro-skills of moving forward with support, anticipating resistance, establishing legitimacy, and knowing how to deploy time and resources smartly.

Durden’s self-publishing outfit demands proactive leadership to survive. So far she’s doing a great job. Leaders looking to expand their efforts don’t need to look at larger than life CEOs for inspiration. They could do well to peek inside the windows of a few cottage businesses to learn what skills are always important.

Picture Credit: MnPix

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BLG Leadership Insights

Don’t Kill Entrepreneurship with the Cost-Cutting Sword

One of the challenges in higher education is to rekindle or maybe even reformulate the entrepreneurial spirit.  The challenge that administrative and academic leadership faces is to create organizations with an entrepreneurial culture. Organizational leadership must become proactive and individuals must be rewarded for their proactive activities.

In an age of cost-cutting, where centralization has become the answer to the economic turbulence, the challenge for organizational leaders is to think about not what the organization will look like tomorrow morning, but what the organization will look like in the future.  In this context, there is much to be said about the creation of entrepreneurial venues within the university structure.

Universities and colleges must begin to think about how to reinvigorate the partnership with faculty and all members of the academic community.  Over the years, entrepreneurial efforts in the university context have been restricted to a few sectors or individuals at any given university.  The challenge is to ensure that the entrepreneurial spirit permeates the organization with reward and recognition.  This means that entrepreneurs should be rewarded and recognized.

Over the years university leadership has tended not to ask themselves what are the incentive mechanisms that will cause individual actors to innovate, share ideas, and take risks—not simply on their own behalf, but on behalf of the institution.  My fear is that in dealing with our current crisis, through restructuring and cost-cutting, universities like many other organizations, will stymie the risk-taking behavior that has been the backbone of entrepreneurship and success.  In crises like these, the issue is not simply to cut costs, but where to place the resource that will give return in the long run.

Leaders should remember not to kill entrepreneurship with the cost-cutting sword.

Picture Credit:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/whatwhat/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
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BLG Leadership Insights

Entrepreneurs Aren’t Exactly Lucky (Neither are Leaders)

Franklin-BenjaminAre entrepreneurial people gifted or just lucky?

If you’ve ever read an article about a successful self-employed person you’ve probably thought they were blessed with a large dose of talent coupled with good fortune. The years of hard work, trial & error, and perseverance, are usually summed up in a few lines that sound like this:

“After college Mr. X worked for 3 years in a high-paced marketing department where he made contacts and began constructing his aggressive business plan. A few years later and Mr. X was entering into negotiations with another round of angel investors and his new marketing company was already pulling in some serious revenue.”

The passage is deceivingly simple and wholly frustrating.

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