I am very fortunate. I live in a city that isn’t too big, but sometimes feels too small. The reason this is important is that it’s given me some incredible opportunities to do things that in a larger city I may not have been able to do. For one, I get to spend a lot of time talking and learning about startups. I get access to some of the most innovative and smart people you will ever meet. No red tape, no middle man. Just them and myself having a cup of coffee. To me this is what I imagine Silicon Valley was like when companies like Apple were still operated out of a garage. Like Apple, I see some of these startups being lead by inspirational, incredible leaders. These standout leaders are not only building world changing products but also exciting corporate cultures. Why do some of these leaders stand out more than others? I’ve done a bit of research into it and noticed three common traits that cross the board.
The first is that these leaders are passionate. Not just excited about creating cool new companies or being an entrepreneur, but are fully engaged in their ideas and companies. These leaders don’t even have to speak for you to understand how deep their passion lies. A few other startup CEOs I’ve met don’t have this trait and you can see it in how they run their organizations, talk about their product and the overall growth or failure of their company. These less passionate leaders are in the startup scene for other reasons like money, fame or having a successful exit under their belt. I can’t help but shake my head at this.
Passion is probably one of the most important things that a CEO can bring to the table. Leaders like Steve Jobs and Sir Richard Branson are passionate leaders. They never built companies for the fame and fortune, they love what they did and were more excited about the journey and bettering people’s lives. For them the rest came in time. Having deep passion helped them attract additional talent that were also passionate about these CEO’s cause.
Passion is contagious. If you are able to find that one thing you are passionate about then you will quickly find that you will be surrounded by other passionate people. If you are building a startup that you aren’t passionate about then before you get too far down a particular road ask yourself the same thing that Steve Jobs asked himself everyday “‘If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?’ And whenever the answer has been ‘No’ for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.” On a personal note, this is a question I ask myself regularly. It’s amazing how depending on the project I’m working on how that answer can change. The only part that always stays true is my passion for building great products for the digital world, but the rest I still think I’m still searching for. However, every time I get to talk or work on Forgetful Chef, I feel extremely passionate and happy.
The second trait that is common among great leaders I’ve met is their overall happiness. It’s not because their startup is making them millions of dollars. Well at least not yet for most of them. It’s because they are doing something that they are passionate about. They can’t imagine themselves doing anything else. They get up every morning thinking about how incredible it’s going to be to work with the people they get to work with and create a small piece of the future. Much of their continuing happiness stems directly from their passion.
I want to tell you about this one client I have the opportunity to work with regularly. The other day he told me that he’s not overall excited about design or the web, but what really gets him excited is working with the team he’s built and creating companies. This individual has built 3 highly successful companies over the years. He never went to college, doesn’t have a business degree or an MBA, but he knows how to lead. He has the first trait of passion and that leads him to be happy. That happiness can be seen all the way through his organization. He’s been able to attract amazing talent to join his small startup. In fact, his overall happiness has even helped him gain clients that some 30 year old veteran companies can’t even get in the door with. It’s been amazing to watch the corporate culture come to life over the past year while working with him.
Finally, great leaders are also great listeners. This helps them communicate better and more efficiently with their teams and clients. They listen to the needs and frustrations of their employees and of their clients. They don’t force their ideas down the funnel of the company. Instead they listen up the funnel for what works, what makes people happy/unhappy and how to empower each employee along the way. In fact, I will go back to the client I mentioned above. The other day during a meeting I noticed he wasn’t quite all there and so I asked him if this was a bad time and I could call him back later. His reply shocked me a little. He told me that an employee was having some computer problems that were really making their job that much harder to accomplish so he was going to buy her all new equipment and have it sent to her. Now if you’ve ever looked at Macs then you know they aren’t a cheap investment. I haven’t gotten the opportunity to talk to his employee yet but I can only imagine that they were thrilled. I know I would be. Shocked, but thrilled. A lot CEOs would have told that employee to suck it up and wait until the machine completely died then blame a poor performance review on the employee rather than the poor equipment.
When you listen to everything around you, you are able to react quicker and invest in the right things like your people. Companies like Automattic don’t set team budgets, employees are entrusted with the idea of ‘if you need something get it’. Sometimes it’s not about equipment and more about taking an afternoon off or some quality time with your team to build commadre over the enjoyment a beer and some pool. Great leaders listen for these opportunities to build more happiness and passion throughout their teams.
You may notice that each of these traits relate back to each other. None of them can be isolated or purely focused on. You need all three to turn yourself from a good leader to a great leader. You also can’t just pay lip service to them either. Your employees and customers will see through fake passion, unhappiness and poor communication skills. By living these traits in everything you do in life will lead you to build better corporate cultures and stronger teams, and finally change the world.
What do you do to be a great leader? Leave a comment below.
###Further Reading and Inspiring companies
