Liquid Leadership Blog Home About Brad Szollose Goodies for Event Planners Videos Testimonials

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

The Disruptive Power of Today's Entrepreneur

Previous Articles

More about Vince Lombardi
While speaking to a large corporate audience in what would prove to be his last keynote address, the legendary football coach Vince Lombardi gave his audience a major piece of wisdom. "I'm going to share with you the key to success in any business,"he said, and then paused.

The room fell into a deep silence as the audience leaned forward. The pause continued a while longer, building the excitement.

"The secret, in a word, is 'heartpower,'" Lombardi continued. "Capture the heart, and you've captured the person. Get people to fall in love with your company."


Look around you at the companies that you love to follow and the leaders who run them: Meg Whitman, former CEO of eBay, the late Steve Jobs of Apple, and Reed Hastings of Netflix and the late Anita Roddick of The Body Shop.

These leaders, among so many, stand out-and so do their companies—because their passion for excellence is contagious. But a greater observation is necessary. They didn't just get there because they showed up and started talking. They built a solid company based on a passionate decision to upset the status quo, because they didn't like the status quo. Using the products they created to change the way we do things took perseverance, stubbornness, and passion, through the good times and the bad.

Great leaders do just that. They create a contagious, passionate vision with everything they touch. Many of the leaders I mentioned above can get angry, excited, and fired up because they care about their people and the products they send out into the world-and almost all of them never graduated from or even attended business school.

Simply put, they integrate the people who work for them as like-minded human beings with all the same passions and drive as anyone else, an integral part of the company's goals. These leaders never treat their employees like subordinates.


These leaders have made a lifetime commitment to becoming better by keeping their eye on the trends and raising their standards, and it shows in every inch of their organizations. They capture the heart and the imagination.

The biggest danger for a company nowadays is when they stagnate, refusing to evolve.
I believe this comes from a myth, the belief that one big idea is enough to live on happily ever after. In today's environment, consistently great ideas must be cranked out and brought to the forefront as quickly as possible. In order to leave a legacy, leaders must act and think like entrepreneurs.

Medium and large companies that run like entrepreneurial start-ups often create relatively small team-to-team and peer-to-peer environments. Hierarchies appear fuzzy to an outsider because these environments are flexible, creative, and free of rules and regulations. Even the CEO is available to every member of the staff. Plain and simple, these medium and large companies operate like small companies.

Internal Darwinism
In entrepreneurially run organizations, each team member is an active participant in the company's success. Participants become contributors in this type of paradigm, solving problems themselves, free to make decisions that in larger organizations might take weeks for approval from higher-ups.

These organizations operate on cyclical time, not linear time. Each member takes responsibility for when and how the work gets done. People begin to rely more on inspirational moments than on a clock.

People in these types of organizations are contagious to be around, as they begin to eat, sleep, and drink what they are working on. This is when team members begin to develop an almost cult-like following, becoming evangelists for the brand and working at midnight just as easily as they might work at 10:00 am.

This is the power of running your organization like an entrepreneurial start-up. People become fully engaged in these environments, refusing to leave. 


In many of these organizations, the bulk of employees have been with the company since its inception. No matter how big your company may get, keep everyone in the organization in touch with the passion of the company's vision.

Every great leader I have coached maintains these uncompromising qualities. Their leadership styles are uniquely based on their personality and the values they truly believe in. They are contagious to be around and have a vision so clear and intoxicating, they are capable of drawing in a new hire, making each and every one feel as if they are part of a contributing force. These qualities also calm new hires, especially when someone has to work with a famous leader.

Inside these entrepreneurially run companies, it boils down to one thing and one thing only: trust. Ensuring that every manager, executive, and team leader is heads and shoulders above the rest requires time and effort. You must raise internal standards but give up control. By raising your people's standards and professionalism, you can step back and trust that the work is getting done to exacting standards.

Start destroying the bottlenecks of communication and approval. Trust is the key to a lasting legacy.

Technology will entice more and more people around the world to become entrepreneurs, and entrepreneurs always create disruption as they destroy entrenched business models in favor of a more efficient and more profitable business model. It is business Darwinism.

As John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins venture capital firm-who invested in Netscape, Amazon, Google, and Bloom Energy when they were just starting-stated on 60 Minutes with Lesley Stall, "That's my job, to find entrepreneurs who are going to change the world-and then help them."

So, I ask you now as a leader, here in the death throes of Industrial Age thinking, what kind of company are you going to invent? Where do you want to go? What possibilities are out there awaiting you?

The ideas are endless.

Thanks for reading,









Original article source: http://EzineArticles.com/7388189

Brad Szollose
Global Management Consultant

Millennial Expert, Cross Generational Leadership Development & Workforce Performance Strategies, Executive Coach


Brad Szollose (pronounced zolis), is a globally recognized Management Consultant and the foremost authority on Millennials and Cross-Generational Leadership Development Strategies.


TEDX Speaker, Web pioneer and the author of the award-winning, bestseller Liquid Leadership: From Woodstock to Wikipedia, Brad is a former C-level executive of a publicly traded company that he cofounded that went from entrepreneurial start-up to IPO in three years; the first Dot Com Agency to go public on NASDAQ. His company K2 Design, experienced 425% hyper-growth, due in part to a unique management style that won his company the Arthur Andersen NY Enterprise Award for Best Practices in Fostering Innovation.
 
Today the world’s leading business publications seek out Brad’s insights on Millennials, and he has been featured in Forbes, The Huffington Post, New York Magazine, Inc., Advertising Age, The International Business Times, and The Hindu BusinessLine to name a few, along with television, radio and podcast appearances on CBS and other media outlets. 
 

Brad's programs have transformed a new generation of business leaders, helping them maximize their corporate culture, expectations, productivity, and sales growth in The Information Age. 

Pick Up Brad's new book...

Journeys to Success: The Millennial Edition. 

#1 Bestseller on Amazon in Hot New Releases!!!

 21 ASTOUNDING Millennials tell their personal stories of failure and success...

Journeys to Success: The Millennial Edition.


No comments:

Post a Comment

Brad Szollose Bio:


__________________________________________________________________

Who Is Brad Szollose?: 

Brad Szollose, host of Awakened Nation®
First things, first. How do you say Szollose?
It’s pronounced zol-us.

From founding partner and CMO of K2 Design, Inc. the first Digital Agency to go public on NASDAQ to international leadership development expert, Brad Szollose has worked with household names like MasterCard, American Management Association and Tony Robbins, to create leadership training programs for a new generation.

As an award-winning creative director, he has been the creative force behind hundreds of high-end corporate events, personal and consumer brands, and website launches. Brad is the recipient of the Corporate Identity Design Award and the Axiom Business Book Award along with various awards for website and print design.

Brad's unique management model was awarded the Arthur Andersen New York Enterprise Award for Best Practices in Fostering Innovation Amongst Employees (Workforce Culture).

Today, the world’s leading business publications seek out Brad’s insights on next-generation leadership development, branding and modern Management Strategies, and he has been featured (both print and online versions) in Forbes, Inc., Advertising Age, USA Today, New York Magazine, The Huffington Post, International Business Times, Le Journal du Dimanche (France), and The Hindu Business Line to name a few, along with television, radio and podcast appearances on CGTN America, CBS, Roku Network and other media outlets.

Brad continues to challenge the status quo with the 10th Anniversary Edition of Liquid Leadership, and his new podcast, Awakened Nation®: a Deep Dive into Extraordinary Conversations.

After 35 years in New York City, he now splits his time between Las Vegas and Denver. In his free time, he enjoys hiking in the mountains, working Star Trek quotes into everyday conversation, and painting and drawing the stunning landscape of the American Southwest and The Rocky Mountains.