Should You Be the Leader of Your Small Business?

Some entrepreneurs are born to start businesses -- often more than one. But not all of these idea people really want to lead a company. They simply don't have the leadership traits that would make them the best choice to head the company, especially as it grows larger. That's why so many founders are replaced before a company goes public -- investors want to know that a vibrant, inspiring figure whose core competency is leadership will be there to drive growth.

It's common for founders to step back from being CEO and take on some other role -- common titles for founders who have stepped away from the top spot include chief technology officer, board director, chief operating officer or research and development director. Some people are full of creative spark and have a passion for coming up with new concepts or for marketing their idea. Others love to lead teams of people and inspire them to do their best.

But rarely do these two innate drives reside in one person. Many entrepreneurs cling to leadership simply because they fear the loss of control, even though their business would be better off if they brought a passionate leader to the helm and focused on the part of the business they love.
So how do you know if you should lead your business? Here are some questions you should ask yourself:

• Do you get a bigger thrill out of energizing workers and seeing your employees succeed than you do when you are successful yourself?
• Do you feel that you wouldn't know what to do with yourself if you weren't heading the company?
• Do you know instinctively what you want to do when confronted with managerial problems such as a team that has failed?
• Do you feel compelled to lead? Dave Logan, a management consultant and an associate dean at the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business, recently wrote, if you feel you could do no other job,that's a strong sign you have the drive to continue leading your business to success.

On the flip side, if managerial tasks bore you, and you find yourself wishing you could get back to the lab/computer/workbench to tinker, your company might be better off without you at the top.
Do you feel driven to lead your business? Leave a comment and tell us if you'd rather take another role.

Pinviewer – View your Facebook content like a Pinterest board

URL: https://apps.facebook.com/pinviewer/

Love Pinterest but are slightly peeved that you can’t pin anything from with Facebook? Say hello to a new Facebook application that allows you to ignore the timeline, and browse yours and your friends updates in a more visual interface.

With the web becoming an ever more visual platform, Pinviews design purposely rides the coat tails of Pinterest which has made the web more scannable, and visually appealing, and combines it with the social data contained within Facebook.  Once you’ve authorised access to your profile, there are options for viewing your own wall, the wall of your friends – and the ability to pull in both image and video content from each – which makes it much easier to see what to like and share.
Very cool.

Pinviewer – View your Facebook content like a Pinterest board is a post from: Webdistortion

How to Build a Brilliant Team

BY Katherine Duncan | March 15, 2012|

 

An innovative idea may inspire a new business, but it takes brilliant people to make that business a success. Michael Crom, executive vice president and chief learning officer of Dale Carnegie Training and co-author of The Leader in You: How to Win Friends, Influence People and Succeed in a Changing World, discusses the first step to startup success: assembling your team. Read on for Crom's advice on finding the best people and filling leadership roles--while still saving some cash. 

 

What's the most important position to fill at the outset?

No. 1, you need to assess your own competencies. As the founder, you really should have a very strong vision and clear goals for the company. If you're not able to meet that need, that may be the very first thing you have to fill in terms of leadership roles. You need to look at creating a competency map of what you need for your own company: Very often for startups, fundraising and relationship-building are going to be key. Selling skills, project and management skills--those are ones that come to my mind instantly.

What personality traits should entrepreneurs look for?

It's important to look for people who are real go-getters and are passionate about the goals you have for the company. Also, look for people who have past work experience that's relevant to what you're doing, particularly people who have worked in small companies, because they aren't used to having to worry about other people doing things for them. They're not used to worrying about corporate rules and regulations, which you may not have in a startup, so they can be more independent in their ability to do things, and they don't mind crossing over barriers and doing multiple tasks. Experience in a large company can be valuable, but save those hires for when you're beyond the initial startup phase.

Where can valuable team members be found?

New business owners tend to really love what they're doing and are so excited by it, they live with gusto. That enthusiasm will actually begin to attract people to your team and attract people who want to help--that's a great starting point. You also need to take some time to be active in your community. I even encourage you to do something for people who can do nothing for you; you'll be surprised by how many fellow business owners are attracted to that. Volunteering is a great way to get out and meet people to expand your network. In lieu of that, there are some great social networking resources online: LinkedIn and Facebook, for example, are tremendous tools to help find people with talent.

Do you have any tips for adding staff when the budget's tight?

A board of advisors may be the way to do that. By looking at your own social network, you can often find people who just enjoy being around the excitement of a startup entrepreneur. Look for a diversity of backgrounds when assembling your board of advi-sors; you might look for someone who has a financial background, someone who is a great marketer, a person who is strong on business context, etc.
Your first hires should be people who are different from you. The other thing that I would look for in my first group of hires, or the people who are going to help out at the onset, are people with multiple talents.

This article was originally published in the March 2012 print edition of Entrepreneur's StartUps with the headline: Build a Brilliant Team.