Staffing and Leading a Growing Company Chapter Outline 19.1
19.2
19.3
19.4
The Entrepreneur’s Role as Leader.
Hiring the Right Employees: The Company’s Future Depends on It.
Building the Right Culture and Organizational Structure.
The Challenge of Motivating Workers.
19.1 The Entrepreneur’s Role as Leader. To be successful, an entrepreneur must assume a wide range of roles, tasks, and responsibilities, but none is more important than the role of leader. Some entrepreneurs are uncomfortable assuming this role, but they must learn to be effective leaders if their companies are to grow and reach their potential. Leadership is the process of influencing and inspiring others to work to achieve a common goal and then giving them the power and the freedom to achieve it. Without leadership ability, entrepreneurs—and their companies—never rise above mediocrity. Entrepreneurs can learn to be effective leaders, but the task requires dedication, discipline, and hard work. In the past, business owners often relied on an autocratic management style, one built on command and control. Today’s successful entrepreneur, however, is more like the leader of a jazz band, which is known for its improvisation, innovation, creativity, and freewheeling style. “The success of a small [jazz band] rests on the ability to be agile and flexible, skills that are equally central to today’s business world,” says Michael Gold, founder of Jazz Impact, a company that teaches management skills through jazz.1 Business leaders, like the leaders of jazz bands, should exhibit the following characteristics:
Innovative. Leaders must step out of their own comfort zones to embrace new ideas; they avoid the comfort of complacency.
Passionate. One of entrepreneurs’ greatest strengths is their passion for their businesses. Members of their team feed off of that passion and draw inspiration from it.
Willing to take risks.