I was talking with a coworker the other day – we discussed leadership styles, the ones that resonated with us and the ones we had challenges with. Having worked in every size organization, I am quite used to hearing the ‘my way or the highway’ speech – she, however, pointed out that her experience, in particular with startups, could easily be likened to Communism: Few people hold power, ‘puppets’ are installed in places of seeming power, usually with fancy titles to mask the strings attached to those positions – and everyone spies on everyone.
Her observation got me thinking…and, the more I analyzed my own experiences, the more I saw how accurate her observation was. Your run of the mill entrepreneur often times is a one trick pony, riding a carefully plotted (or accidentally fortunate) wave of success – and clinging to his/her ‘vision’ with a might that would make the ancient Greek gods blush. But, of course, being a micromanaging leader is bad PR – and bad for hiring (and retaining) talent. So, what is a ‘communist’ CEO to do? Just be honest about who makes every single decision? Do everything him/herself? Or, maybe, try to build an org structure that mimics truly established enterprises – but fill the key positions with people who understand their title merely comes with a proportionate paycheck, but not the authority that a ‘true company’ counterpart would have? The last option appears to be too appealing to too many entrepreneurs who can’t or won’t trust people in their employ to help grow a business and forge a true company culture (aka a place where people can speak freely without looking over their shoulders; where adverse opinions, if constructive, are welcomed – and where favoritism is not the way to advance). And, in fairness, I understand the fear many entrepreneurs face – the company is THEIR baby, their vision. Trusting others is scary, delegating power and authority even scarier. But, unless one does just that, there can be no culture, no scalable success – and no place of work where employees would ask their friends to join. Attrition and turn over would be high, relationships with partners and Clients often only superficial and Glassdoor reviews, NPS scores on the decline.
AS HIRE AS, BS HIRE CS.
On the flipside, winning startups tend to embrace individualism, controversial opinions and critical feedback. A confident leader understands that he/she cannot possibly have all the answers – and that they should be very worried if they’re the smartest person in the room. A confident leader strategically hires established SMEs and/or promising talent. SMEs come to lead departments or relationships, promising talent gets assigned to SMEs or more experienced leaders to learn and mature in an environment geared to win – internally by ways of true promotions and externally as measured on Customer acquisition and retention. Weak leaders, on the opposite end of the spectrum, hire ‘moldable’ and ‘manageable’ employees – the kind that won’t ask questions or, OMG!!!, develop independent thought. In a negative (aka ‘communist’) environment, there is no true advancement. Titles are made up, ‘Jr’ and ‘Sr’ tiers get created ad hoc (now, don’t get me wrong, this makes sense in a 10k+ enterprise where tiers of say a Manager role make sense) – and those maxed out on tiers eventually get promoted to ‘lead’ a few poor souls who have not caught on to things just yet. In fairness, these (often times involuntary) people leaders receive little to no coaching themselves and are therefore ill equipped for the task at hand. And, of course, these newly minted ‘leaders’ don’t have any actual power to manage ‘their’ direct reports – even minor decisions still have to be approved by someone at least one level higher.
FORGIVE THEM, FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY HAVE DONE.
The biggest problem of a ‘communist’ startup is that those who want to bring true advancement and improvement into the organization are quickly labeled as ‘troublemakers’ – and deemed a threat to ‘culture’. The fact that these ‘troublemakers’ usually raise valid points – and tend to leap their peers in accomplishments often times gets overlooked. And it’s human nature: Nobody wants to hear – let alone admit – that they’re not perfect. Especially not from someone with less experience, someone who has not negotiated fundraising rounds or presented to titans of industry. What insecure, micromanaging leaders in these ‘communist’ companies tend to overlook (or blissfully ignore) is that people aren’t blind. People talk. And share. And form alliances, small ‘bubbles of resistance’ if you will. This often times leads to the demise of reputation, success and, ultimately, profitability for many startups. When CEOs forget that they left ‘corporate America’ to start ‘their own thing’, to disrupt industries ‘ripe for disruption’ – that is when a potentially noble (and profitable) quest becomes just a poor copy of the very oppressive environment these CEOs themselves abandoned. Without humble leadership, the willingness to hear every voice and a desire to learn from even the lowest rank in a startup, no matter how ‘foolish’ or ‘negative’ an opinion may be, many of these startups’ CEOs inadvertently recreate the very environment they sought to escape: Their ‘baby’ often times in the fast lane to oblivion.