Category: Startup
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12–1
So… 1st 2021 month out of 12 has passed. How many times during Jan did your team manage to impact the goal they’re driving? How many times during Jan were your teams able to point at a release that drove your company metrics? What’s your prediction for Feb? I’m not talking about what you predict…
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The knowing zone vs. the doubting zone
I found that doubt, or the absence of it, is great leading indicator of personal and company growth. When I wake up and my doubts are “not there” or I realise they haven’t been there for a while I know I drifted into my “knowing zone”. The zone where I operate with high levels of…
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Care Bears
Startup founders are expected to create something new and original in this world that often requires a new way of thinking, sometimes a complete human paradigm shift. They are funded to think differently. To be different. The irony is that the second these founders raise the money they find themselves under pressure to lead their…
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Separating the road from the map
As the rate of change in the world is growing, there is a growing need for truly autonomous teams that can move faster and scale our organization’s “change-velocity”. Autonomous teams need to be led and less managed. They require a direction instead of a directive. They expect trust in their ability to guide us to…
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Have you made yourself redundant yet?
There are multiple reasons why building autonomous teams is challenging for leaders, but there is one aspect of the challenge that we’re ignoring. Regardless of the challenges of building the required trust, frameworks, and processes that foster autonomy, creating autonomous teams is a form of making yourself gradually “redundant”. I suspect that this feeling of…
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What would change in the next 90 days?
Have YOU clearly communicated to your company and each team what is the change they are expected to drive in the next 90 days? In most startups, we have 2–8 quarters of funding left at any given moment of time. That’s it! We can’t really afford to have a quarter drive by us without maximizing…
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Inner conflict vs. choice
Having an inner conflict and having a choice to make sounds similar but they are very different. Inner conflict is actually a form of avoiding making real choices. The cost of avoiding choices I see this all the time. Startup founders, who know, exactly, in their hearts what is most valuable for them, but for…
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Is your vision compelling (you to act)?
When was the last time you SAW your vision? Seriously, when was the last time you found yourself PULLED from the present into the future? Do you remember the last time you faced a serious dilemma in the present and felt your vision was guiding your present choices? If the answer is “I can’t remember”,…
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“Data-driven” isn’t about the “data” it’s about the “driven”
When we talk about being “data-driven” what we usually focus on is the “data” part. The focus is on ensuring data drives our decisions. By doing so we are missing the whole point which is the “driving” part of being data-driven. What DRIVES us? In his book Drive Daniel Pink discusses what truly drives people in our…
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Burning the boats — Resisting the pull of the old you
One of the hardest things about pivoting our company or our career is resisting the pull of the past. The fact that we have decided to change our value proposition doesn’t mean the world recognizes that yet, and as a result, people and companies will come knocking at our door looking for the “old you”.…