"What type of management style works best for a startup?" is a question I'm often asked.
Some of the veterans of new enterprise land have concluded that the best answer is "Whatever style gets the job done."
Unfortunately that's not very helpful, especially to first-time entrepreneurs who are wondering if they have "the style" it takes to be the CEO.
My research tells me that there are as many different startup CEO management styles as there are sports coaches. Both groups compete to win. Both groups are composed of CEOs with vastly different styles of getting the job done (through people, ergo by managing people).
So the first tip today is: Any style of managing opens the door to any person to be a founder CEO. You are not ineligible because you lack "the winning style" because there is no one style that wins.
What distinguishes the CEOs is the company culture they create because of the kind of person they are. CEOs dominate the values of the new enterprise. They hire people with similar values and those people do the same. The result is a collection of startups with vastly different cultures. Google is not Facebook is not Apple is not your Newco startup. In essence the new enterprise mirrors the values of the founder CEO. That means you become the designer of the culture of the startup by just managing via the style that is natural to you.
I'm currently studying the biography of Steve Jobs, picking out elements that get me thinking about management style and startups. I knew Jobs and people close to him over decades, thus the book is less news and more of a way of thinking about management styles for startups. This is one reason I recommend startup people read books to study people.
There was little innovative about management style at Apple. There is at Google. Both are very successful new enterprises. Their founders' values are the primary determinants of how their company's culture is built. And that brands each company forever.
TEST YOUR STYLE
What is your management style?
One refreshingly different way to examine your management style is to see how it measures up with love.
For a definition I use a passage from the Bible:
1 Corinthians 13:4-9
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
4 Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not want what belongs to others. It does not brag. It is not proud. 5 It is not rude. It does not look out for its own interests. It does not easily become angry. It does not keep track of other people's wrongs.
6 Love is not happy with evil. But it is full of joy when the truth is spoken. 7 It always protects. It always trusts. It always hopes. It never gives up.
8 Love never fails.
Try asking yourself (and then a good friend) how you are the same or different when using that criteria to measure how you manage people.
Then consider what you might do to alter your managerial style to get even more results.
BOTTOM LINE: Knowing your management style reveals how your startup will build its culture. That will show you what kind of people will be repelled or attracted by your style. It will open you eyes to what you need in people around you, talent required to complete the managerial skill set required to make your new enterprise a success. Serial entrepreneurs know that. It's what they use as the foundation to build their unfair competitive advantage. So can you.
I wish you The Best on your Adventure!
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