There’s nothing like a team of smart, energetic, creative people working in unison with the founder. When goals are clear, authority is assigned, and resources are plentiful, human potential blossoms like a lotus and company value goes up.
But there’s nothing worse than paying the salary of someone who is destroying the business when you, as the business owner, aren’t around. The problem is that the human potential remains just as powerful, but changes the sign from “plus” to “minus.” Such an employee acts resourcefully, tirelessly and boldly. In short, shows remarkable qualities, but unfortunately, they are directed against you.
Great temptation to accuse people of meanness, ingratitude and cynicism. Pathological characters are found, but very rarely. Usually the cause is something else. When an employee receives a complaint from a founder saying that the business has been harmed, his amazement is a clue: “But this is unfair! After all, I meant well!”
Acting in good faith, an honest, hard-working and competent employee effectively destroys a business if he or she does not know the corporate answer to the global question, “For what?” In other words, if no one bothers to tell the team what the company’s desired future is, they are each forced to speculate and act at their own risk. Misunderstandings, conflicts and squandering of company resources in this case are inevitable.
There is only one person whose responsibility, and by the way, privilege, is to formulate a vision of what the business needs to be in the long run. Not the CEO, not the business consultant, not the investment banker, and not the marketer. If you are the founder of a company, that person is you.
Sincerely yours,
-Alexander
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”Who are you and what do you do?"
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.
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