Leading A Successful Startup

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‘Startup leaders aren’t necessarily paid for moving fast and breaking things … but they are expected to experiment and iterate to drive success.’

‘You don’t have to be fully ready to go for it.’

‘You have to nail the job that you were paid to do first, before you highlight anything else you’ve done above-and-beyond.’

‘If you don’t do what you’re paid to do exceptionally well, it’s hard to make the case that you’ll be more successful once promoted.’

‘If you ask questions upfront, you can hopefully avoid finding yourself in the middle of a messy founder drama.’

‘You need to align with your colleagues enough to want to put in a lot of time together tackling challenges.’

‘You can mitigate your risk coming in the early by asking for a contractual agreement around ‘true-upping’ your cash to market rates at key revenue or fundraising milestones.’

‘Try to make the leaps manageable and within your comfort zone to set yourself up for maximum success.’

You need to understand markets and business areas that impact your startup, not only your particular role.’

‘If you are interested in growing into an executive role, think about how you can learn other areas of your function that you may not have owned previously.’

Source

Sarah E. Brown (2022) Lead Upwards: How Startup Joiners Can Impact New Ventures, Build Amazing Careers, and Inspire Great Teams

Energizing Your People For Results

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‘Rather than trying to get more out of people, organizations are better served by investing more in them and meeting their multidimensional needs in order to fuel greater engagement and more sustainable high performance.’

Awareness is the key to recognizing the consequences of the choices we’re making and their impact on others.’

Learning to observe our feelings as they arise, rather than simply acting them out, allows us to make more reflective, intentional choices about how we want to show up in the world.’

‘We must embrace the opposites. By celebrating one set of qualities and undervaluing another- courage or prudence, confidence or humility, tenacity or flexibility- we lose access to essential dimensions of ourselves and others.’

We’re most effective at work when we alternate between active forms of renewal, such as exercise and play, and more passive forms, such as meditation, napping, and sleep.’

‘Deeply held values define the person you aspire to be.’

‘The key to effective renewal is not how we do it but how well we do it. As with any other capacity, we get better at effectively renewing by practicing it more systematically.’

We can develop the capacity to influence the stories we tell ourselves, so that they empower rather than undermine us.’

‘Leaders who default to negative emotions to motivate others may get short-term performance they’re seeking, but the costs over time are high.’

‘The most effective leaders are those who regularly recognize and show appreciation for the real accomplishments of their people.’

‘Organizations that set aside separate spaces for creative thinking make a statement about the priority they’ve accorded innovation.’

Source:

Tony Schwartz (2010). The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working: The Four Forgotten Needs that Energize Great Performance