The Complex System: Story of an Entrepreneur

Mission, Vision & Values - Post #1

First and foremost, get the mission, vision and values right. This has been somewhat of a chore for me over the years. I think I've done three or four revisions, maybe more; but even as I tune the mission and vision, our core values and core purpose have not changed dramatically. I think that Jim Collins in Good to Great does a great job articulating the difference between "what your company does" and "who your company is". The theory being, that companies that enjoy enduring success have core values and a core purpose (who you are) that remain fixed while their business strategies and practices (what you do) endlessly adapt to a a changing world; he calls it "preserving the core, while stimulating progress". His research suggests that the best, longest lasting companies, have taken this approach.

So if a powerful vision embodies both the who we are and the what we do, then articulating one can be quite tricky. Even as I write this post I think we have more work to do on this topic; nevertheless, developing our vision, writing it down and articulating it to everyone in the company, repeatedly and on more than one occasion, has made a profound difference.

I remember at one company meeting someone asked me in so many words to articulate the vision. He said that the people here trust me and know that I have a plan, but sometimes they wonder who we are and where we are going. He asked that I tell them; that I put it on the wall; and that I make it clear so everyone can understand what it is we are trying to do. That inquiry really impacted me and I responded. A few months later I presented our 2008 strategy along with a detailed description of our vision. As a result our people are engaged, focused and driven toward a common goal.

When times get tough and fear of the unknown is abound, I love that I can hear the persistent hum of enthusiasm from my office; frankly, it's the thing that keeps me in this game at times.

10 Keys to Exponential Growth

As an entrepreneur, I think one of the most common and difficult challanges is the inevitable transition that occurs when you try to grow beyond your own reach. What I mean by this is that most entrepreneurs start small. Like me, I started in my living room on more than one occassion. Eventually I grew to a small office; then added staff, moved into a bigger office, raised money, etc. The list of growth steps goes on. But there is a moment when you realize that you can't see and certainly can't touch all the chess pieces. You need to let go. This is the difficult transition for many entrepreneurs. Going from small business to real company.

As someone who's been in the middle of this transition for the past 18 months, I can tell you, it's not easy. Over the next few months I'm going to start breaking down what I've found to be the 10 most important aspects of managing this transition and hopefully achieving exponential growth on the other side. In this post I'll share the 10 areas and in future posts, i'll get into details about each one. Please bare with me as this is a work in progress and will surely evolve.

1. Mission, Vision & Values
2. Roles & Responsibilities
3. Recruiting
4. Management
5. Performance Reviews
6. Accountability
7. Strategic Planning
8. Goals & Metrics
9. Financial Visibility & Budgeting
10. Corporate Transparency

So far, i've found these 10 areas to be the most important and have the most positive impact and where I spend the bulk of my time. If anything, this will be an interesting experiment as I apply these 10 aspects of running a company at my current business and in real time, share the feedback of my successes and failures.

Get Out the Way

I've been told, the minute I start doing someone else’s job, the minute they leave. My experience is that when I do someone else’s job, I rob them of the opportunity to excel. And when people aren’t excelling, it's only a matter of time before they're out the door for one reason or another.

I bring this up because of how powerful this realization has been for me. I'm very hands on, and I regularly go out of my way to "help" people that I work with. The key distinction is that while I think I'm helping someone, I'm really just doing their job. When I do that, I not only keep them from growing into the role they've been hired to do, but also limit the amount of time I can spend doing my own role. This is a pretty common mistake that entrepreneurs make. I think most entrepreneurs don't even realize they do this, and more importantly, they have no idea it is this exact behavior that limits the growth of their businesses. That's the irony of it. We think we’re doing our company well by working harder and harder to do another’s job, but we’re doing just the opposite. After all, if I don’t focus on steering the ship, who will?

I know this because I used to do it. Of course, old habits don't die easily, but I've really been successful with in this area and I surround myself with people who remind me that my role is CEO, and that my role is not their role. So like the title of this post says... "Get Out The Way"!