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

My Story

Portrait of an Entrepreneurial Leader

Dr. John Evans

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

Audience Poll

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

Lead yourself

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

Culture

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

Resiliency

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

Focus

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.