Leadership in a small start-up company

Posted by Eamon in echolibre, industry, leadership
Tuesday, December 9th, 2008 at 16:03

In the last year, I’ve been lucky to be able to discuss the topic of leadership in a small start-up company with friends and industry peers alike.

I found that most people tend to either describe what a leader is, or what a leader does, usually based on personal contact with someone they regarded as a “good” leader. However, most seem to find it difficult to actually define what a leader is. Indeed, I can understand this, as there are many types of leaders out there and I think that generally how you tell them apart is not their skills, but what or who it is they’re actually leading.

When most people decide to start a company, it’s usually because they have an idea or product or service they want to sell, maybe because they want to take back some control in their lives, or because they believe they can do it.

Each of these reasons provide the groundwork for the makings of a leader - not necessarily a good leader, but a leader all the same. Allow me to break down the previous paragraph further: I think it can generally be accepted that a leader should possess, amongst other qualities, the following:

- Vision
- Decision making
- Self belief

These are great qualities for anyone to possess, and I would argue that it can be difficult to get a company (or any kind of long-term venture for that matter) up off the ground, without this basic mix.

I would also argue that just because you’ve started up a company, it does not necessarily mean that you can lead.  A great leader will have a few more abilities, for example:

- the ability to communicate well with others
- the ability to organise people and tasks
- the ability to inspire a team of people
- the ability to remain level headed under pressure
- the ability to accept responsibility for a team’s mistakes
- the ability to be open to discussion, yet confident in decision making
- the ability to start and complete
- the ability to care about the team and about the work

… the list goes on.

Not everyone in charge of a small start-up company has these abilities - but hey, that’s the way it goes for a start-up. There is often an understanding that any skills that cannot be bought in at the beginning, can be picked up along the way.

This is fine, and usually works where things like administration is concerned. But when we’re talking about things like Sales, Design and Development, there’s only so far you can go with what you’ve picked up. In order to be exceptional at these things, possessing a natural ability usually helps.

The same is true for leadership. Most of us can pick up a smattering of the abilities listed above, but there is no substitute for having a natural leadership ability.

So, what is natural leadership ability? I think it’s being in possession of all these skills and actually knowing what to do with them.

Whether I consider myself to be a natural leader or not is another story. I’m finding my way, making some mistakes and learning from them; having some successes and repeating them.

Maybe ask me again this time next year

You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Comments (2 Responses)