Entrepreneurial Leadership: Building and Managing your
Team
Presented by Keri Damen (@keridamen)
Audience Poll:
Why did you leave
your last job?
1. Work Conditions
2. Compensation
3. Manager
4. Toxic Co-worker
Portrait of an Entrepreneurial Leader
Entrepreneurial Leadership 101
Traditional definition of leadership
Leaders:
1. Set direction
2. Align people
3. Motivate and inspire
Traditional definition of management
Managers:
1. Decide and plan
2. Budget and allocate
3. Monitor and control
Leaders vs. managers
Leaders vs. managers
=
Strategy vs. execution?
Entrepreneurial Leader = Both
Eagle eye with mouse vision
“Management is doing things right;
leadership is doing the right things.”
-Peter
Drucker
Entrepreneurs must lead and manage:
1. The strategy
2. The results
3. The team (all your
relationships)
4. Yourself
PART 1: The strategy
DEFINITION OF STRATEGY
From Greek στρατηγία stratēgia, "art of
troop leader; office of general, command,
generalship”;
is a high level plan to achieve one or more
goals under conditions of uncertainty.
Startup Strategy 101: Search to find
and meet customer needs to create a
sustainable business
Tactics: Use customer development
to ensure you make
something people want
Tool: Business Model Canvas
Strategy is everyone’s job
PART 2: Managing the results
Execution is harder than strategy
70-90% of organizations with strategies
fail to achieve them
7 out of 10 CEOs fail not due to a bad
strategy but because of bad execution
(Fortune)
A great strategy weakly executed
is worth less than a good strategy
strongly executed
Course code: 2927-000Page #32
What does success look like?
Define the most important metrics
for your business
Startup metrics:
$ Revenue % Gross margin
# Trials/Proposals # Qualified Leads
# Customers # Repeat Customers
Burn rate Drop dead rate
New products
Marketing Metrics (Views/Clicks/Conversions)
“What gets measured gets managed.”
(and done)
-Peter
Drucker
BEWARE
• Blind faith in one metric
• The wrong metrics
• Too many metrics
• Balance financial & non-financial
metrics
PART 3: Managing the team
Audience Poll:
Bad Manager Hall of Shame
There’s no “I” in team….
“Hire slowly and fire fast”
Get the best people and
let them do their job
(define what success looks like)
Kotter on Management:
Plan
Organize
Staff
Direct
Control
(There is no ‘Do!’ = Delegate)
Help your team succeed:
• Do they know what is expected of them?
• Do they have the tools/skills to achieve this?
• Do they understand how they can improve?
• Do they know what success looks like?
Source: Material Minds (Plant)
Help your team succeed:
• Do they know what is expected of them?
Objectives & link to
strategy
• Do they have the tools/skills to achieve this?
Organizational support
• Do they understand how they can improve?
Communication/Perf Mgmt
• Do they know what success looks like?
Metrics/Results
Source: Material Minds (Plant)
Keep your best people by giving them:
• Autonomy over their work
• Credit/recognition
• Feedback regularly
• Growth opportunities
PART 4: Managing yourself
Course code: 2927-000Page #50
Course code: 2927-000Page #51
Every day ask yourself:
‘What can I do today to move the
needle forward on my business?’
Leverage your strengths and
minimize your weaknesses
Help yourself succeed:
• Do you know what is expected of you?
Goals; Link to strategy
• Do you have the tools/skills/rel’ships to achieve
this?
Mentors/cofounders
• Do you understand how you can improve?
Listening to stakeholders
• Do you know what success looks like?
Metrics/Results
A note on culture
Startup Genome Report: The Impact of
Mentors
Cultivate emotional intelligence
Cultivate emotional intelligence
Source: HBR
Stages of organizational evolution:
1. Creating a culture
2. Building a culture
3. Maintaining: Sustainer of
culture
4. Changing: As change agent
Source: Schein
You are the culture
Overt and covert culture
Lead by example: Live the culture
5 Myths of Great Workplaces (HBR)
5 Myths of Great Workplaces (HBR)
1. Everyone is happy all the time.
5 Myths of Great Workplaces (HBR)
1. Everyone is happy all the time.
2. Conflict is rare.
5 Myths of Great Workplaces (HBR)
1. Everyone is happy all the time.
2. Conflict is rare.
3. Mistakes are few.
5 Myths of Great Workplaces (HBR)
1. Everyone is happy all the time.
2. Conflict is rare.
3. Mistakes are few.
4. Hire for cultural fit.
5 Myths of Great Workplaces (HBR)
1. Everyone is happy all the time.
2. Conflict is rare.
3. Mistakes are few.
4. Hire for cultural fit.
5. Offices are full of fun things.
“We perform at our best when we feel
competent, autonomous and connected
to others.”
-Ron
Friedman
Everyone has aEveryone has a plan until they get
punched in the mouth.
- Mike
Tyson
“ ”
“If you are not making mistakes, you
are not making decisions.”
-Catherine Cook,
My Yearbook
See problems as opportunities:
Learn what you can and move on
Deciding means killing ideas
Decide between nice to haves
and must haves
Final thought:
Always strive to be
a better manager and leader
Ask for feedback and
work to improve
Course code: 2927-000Page #Course code: 2927-000Page #63
Week 1
Fulfill needs. Solve problems.
And you CHANGE THE WORLD.