Openminds

Isn’t it interesting how reality TV has become an entertainment cornerstone? It plays on the rubber necking that people do whenever they see humans interacting in a way that is outside of what is perceived as conventional or “normal”. We pass people arguing and we quietly stare out of the corners of our eyes. We pass the police talking to someone and we look and then roll through in our minds a myriad of reasons why they may be being stopped. We see people on TV put into difficult and trying circumstances and we wonder both how they will react and how we would react if we were in their shoes.

The number one question I am asked about being on realitytv, dragonsden,

I regularly speak with people who work inside of what they describe as an “entrepreneurial company”. They speak with both admiration and loathing for the company’s founders who they describe as erratic, unpredictable, too fast to action, and too slow to develop process.

These folks love the energy, commitment, enthusiasm, and above all else, the vision of their leaders. But they hate the lack of organization, policy and predictability that accompanies those same leaders.

Many times, I also hear them say they too are entrepreneurial, and ultimately they joined the company because it was led by someone they felt they could relate to. They wanted to be an entrepreneur and felt that by joining a company led by one, they would be able to live their own dreams without the risk.

It is in those conversations that I think to myself: I wonder if that company really needs another entrepreneur, or whether what it really needs is an “intrapreneur”?

Let me explain. Several years ago, I engaged a consultant to help us determine the personality types of the people who worked in our company. We all took a test and ended up with a coded color that helped to identify and explain our key motivators and actions. The colors were orange, blue, green, and yellow. Orange represented highly entrepreneurial-type people who didn’t require process and were bad at detail and follow through. At the other end of the spectrum were the yellows who needed clear process, direction, and detail in order to succeed. The objective of the exercise was for each of us to understand the other’s personality type in order to communicate in a more meaningful way.

I soon found myself engaged in a conversation with the consultant who pulled me aside to give me some unsolicited advice. She showed me that the company was approximately 50% orange with a mix of the other types of individuals across the remaining 50%. Her advice: I needed to quickly make the company more “balanced”. She said that what we needed wasn’t more entrepreneurial types, but more intrapreneurs - people who could act independently inside of a framed context. She said we had too many people who had no process discipline, and we could never be truly successful without those planner, detail driven thinkers to help ensure we were delivering in a scalable and repeatable manner.

I thought long and hard about what she said, and from what started as a simple, fun exercise to build teams, ended up with an epiphany of how to build my company. We didn’t need people who thought like me, acted like me and didn’t question me. What we needed were people in each area – thinkers, doers, dreamers and questioners. We needed to rethink the balance of our company and look for that perfect blend of process and vision that makes good companies great.

Subsequently, I made some significant changes in my organization. The biggest change was likely in my head. I accepted that the best thing I can do is hire great people who believe in the same vision as I do but aren’t exactly like me. I needed to surround myself by talented, unique individuals who can bring a different perspective and style to helping achieve our vision.

Together, we are an “entrepreneurial company”. Why? Because we are not bound by conventional thinking and we embrace what’s possible. But we are not “entrepreneurial” when it comes to disciplined thinking, process, structure and planning. In that sense, we are a professionally managed firm that can scale and compete with any firm, anywhere.

Technorati Tags: entrepreneur, intrapreneur, management, hiring, humanresources, venture

On a scale of 1 –10, I love owning my own business. There are many reasons for this, however the drive to succeed likely supercedes all others for me. I am not competitive with others by nature. I am highly competitive however with myself.

The best satisfaction I derive is from making myself do things in business that I never thought I could or that others said couldn’t be done. On the personal front, I’m not so great at this. If I were, I would challenge myself to be exercising regularly and eating healthier than I do. But that is likely a conversation for Dr. Phil’s site not for my work blog.

There are days however in business when I just frankly want to say I’ve had enough. The saying that it’s like a rollercoaster ride – with the highs being higher and the lows being lower than anything else you will ever do - is so true. One day you are feeling ecstatic that you have climbed that impossible hill and the next day you wonder how you are going to be able to dig yourself out of a hole that feels bottomless.

On those bleak days, I would fill in the blank in my headline with the world Hell. Whether its from feeling frustrated with the ongoing dynamics of business or whether its dealing with issues that are so clearly not what I got into business to deal with, it is often no fun whatsoever.

BUT. And, it’s clearly a big but, there is no better feeling for me then when our company has helped another firm to deliver on its business and marketing goals. There’s nothing that can replace the feeling I have when our team works together to do the impossible and does so with integrity, fun and intelligence. Nothing beats that. And that feeling overcomes all of the bad stuff and all of the business headaches I sometimes experience.

I guess the reality is that on 95% of the days I’d fill in the headline with the word Incredible.

And that feeling is enough to get me out of bed every day and wonder what the day will hold. I realize that sometimes it’s going to be just a plain awful day and, awfully hard to get through. But I know that on most days its going to be, well, incredible. So that makes me one of the luckiest roller coaster riders in the world. Because I know that when the ride is low it will surely go back up and I will feel like we’ve climbed a mountain. That thrill will always have me getting back on the train again and again.

Technorati Tags: entrepreneur, venturecommunications,

This I know to be true – if an entrepreneur runs a business, there are many decisions that are made quickly, often only based on intuition. And, new business efforts are driven by the motto of “you eat what you kill”.

Of course, those characteristics are, by definition, what makes entrepreneurs either wildly successful or just another guy with an idea that flames out quickly in the flash of an eye.

I’m consumed these days with observing the impact of what doing the “wrong” type of business has on the success factors for any organization. This is particularly true in the services industry.

When you are starting up a company it is so easy to skip the step of determining WHOM exactly you want to do business with. You look for revenue and growth, in any form, to validate your model, idea and to keep the engine turning. There is a thought that if you can just get your business started you can always course correct and get to the clients and value proposition you really want, sometime in the not too distant future.

But, the problem is this. By taking on work with organizations that aren’t really buying the real service you want to offer, you end up giving up your ability to be true to what drove you to open the doors in the first place.

All revenue is not created equal. All clients are not good for business. And, the wrong type of business can harm your internal and external values and brand perception in countless ways.

What I have learned is that often the entrepreneur believes that he or she can “fix” the client by working with them and showing them the real service value they deliver. In fact, given your start up situation, the client has the hammer not the service firm. And, if their values are not aligned with yours then no amount of coaching, education and time and effort will change that. What generally happens is their culture can soon becomes yours.

Your company is in fact who you work for. My thought is that if you are running a service organization and want to be known for excellence then you should only do business for firms that have the same values and beliefs you do.

Understanding your unique selling proposition, your key audiences and the messages that will resonate with them is critical from the day you open your doors.

Technorati Tags: Arlene Dickinson, Venture Communications, Entrepreneurship, start ups