What entrepreneurial leaders really do differently: 5 shifts to improve your leadership
What comes to mind when you think: ‘entrepreneurial leader’? A charismatic genius, barking commands to a tech-savvy team? Or perhaps a polo-necked visionary, toiling over prototypes, emerging only to wow the media with his latest innovation?
Whilst this brand of ‘celebrity’ entrepreneur does exist, there’s a lot more to entrepreneurial leadership than big ideas and unbridled ambition.
In our work with a global population of over 1,000 serial entrepreneurs, we have observed a number of recurring leadership traits that distinguish entrepreneurial leaders from their corporate peers. (And none of them are to do with having great ideas).
Here are five things that most successful entrepreneurial leaders do really well - and what we can learn from them:
Get the right people in the right roles. Whilst the idea for a new venture is usually the brainchild of one or two founders, building a business requires a huge range of skills. Entrepreneurial leaders know the extent of theirs - and what others they need around them to make their ideas come to life. As Pierpaolo Barbierei, founder of Argentinian fintech unicorn, Uala advises, “Don’t be afraid to hire people who are better than you. I can confidently say that everyone on my management team is better than me at what they do.”
Set the stage for your team to shine. In conversation with OneLeap’s founder and CEO, Hamish Forsyth, Greg Brandeau (former CTO at Pixar and Disney, and author of Collective Genius: The Art and Practice of Leading Innovation) likened the role of an entrepreneurial leader to being not the first violinist, but the conductor of an orchestra. Rather than thinking they have all the answers, an entrepreneurial leader recognises that each team member can contribute something uniquely valuable and creates an environment that draws together each contribution in harmony.
Cultivate an ‘always learning’ mindset. Entrepreneurs are always open to new experiences. According to Timothy Butler of Harvard Business Review, this is the single trait that most distinguishes them from their more conventional peers. This restless curiosity doesn’t stop at leadership level. In fact, a key responsibility of entrepreneurial leaders is to keep that curiosity alive, particularly as the company scales. Sahar Hashemi OBE, Founder of Coffee Republic and OneLeap Beyond Advisory Council member calls this “the importance of being clueless”. It is the job of the entrepreneurial leader, says Hashemi, to be the “Chief Stupid Question Asker” and set the foundation for a culture of curiosity and openness by example.
Help people see the ‘Why’. Most entrepreneurial leaders are at the helm of mission driven companies navigating uncharted territories in high degrees of uncertainty. In this challenging context, it’s critical that the team is fully behind the company’s vision. Entrepreneurial leaders are particularly skilled at helping each team member connect their role to ‘the big picture’. By imbuing people with a sense of purpose, they ensure motivation stays high.
Be firm on the ‘What’, but flexible on the ‘How’. Entrepreneurial leaders recognise that to generate truly original ways of doing things, they can’t just tell people what to do. Instead, their job is to set a clear end goal (or ‘Guiding Star’ as we refer to it at OneLeap), providing the guide rails within which the solution must be found, and finally - and most importantly - step back and allow the magic to happen. As General George S. Patton famously observed, the best intel on the ‘how’ is likely to come from the people closest to the problem - not the one highest in the chain of command.
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