Startup Leadership: How Savvy Entrepreneurs Turn Their Ideas Into Successful Enterprises

Startup Leadership: How Savvy Entrepreneurs Turn Their Ideas Into Successful Enterprises

by Derek Lidow
Released March 2014
Publisher(s): Jossey-Bass
ISBN: 9781118697054

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Book description

Anyone can start a business. But only leaders can succeed.

Most entrepreneurs know the long odds: only a fraction of them will lead their enterprises through the rocky stages of growth to launch self-sustaining companies. Very few know how to outflank the failures that await them at every turn, including the most painful—being abandoned by key members of their team or getting pushed out by their board just as their business starts to generate real value.

Derek Lidow is on a mission to improve these odds and change these outcomes. Throughout his long career—as CEO, innovator, and entrepreneur—he has tested virtually every aspect of launching a business. Lidow now argues that success is far less dependent upon a firm's idea or any grand strategy than it is upon something more personal: leadership. Emerging companies have specific leadership requirements, stage by fast-moving stage. Few founders have been able to leverage the tremendous power of this underrecognized reality—until now.

Startup Leadership demonstrates how founders can adopt the skills that are required at each stage of their journey. Whether you are at the idea stage or managing a more mature enterprise, you can start to recognize the fundamental conflict: how to balance your selfish drives with the more selfless leadership required by the organization at any given time. The book shows you how to achieve this balance by:

  • Assessing your unique motivations, traits, and skills

  • Creating a personal leadership strategy that leverages your strengths and mitigates your weaknesses

  • Mastering how to lead teams, including boards

  • Understanding the five prerequisites for driving change

  • Taking control of your inevitable crises, thereby strengthening your team and your leadership

    • With Lidow's help, you will learn how to become the startup leader your business needs, and you'll move forward with your plans with greater confidence and success.

    Table of contents

    1. Cover Page
    2. Title Page
    3. Copyright
    4. Dedication
    5. CONTENTS
    6. PREFACE
    7. Chapter 1: Success Requires More Than Entrepreneurship
      1. ENTREPRENEUR, OR ENTREPRENEURIAL LEADER?
      2. STAGES, SKILLS, AND SELFISH SELFLESSNESS
      3. PREREQUISITES: MASTERING THE SKILLS OF STARTUP LEADERSHIP
      4. APPLICATION: WHAT AN ENTREPRENEURIAL LEADER DOES
    8. PART ONE: PREREQUISITES: MASTERING THE SKILLS OF ENTREPRENEURIAL LEADERSHIP
      1. Chapter 2: Are You Selfish Enough to Be Selfless?
        1. MOTIVATION IS POWER
        2. MOTIVATIONS, TRAITS, AND SKILLS: YOUR CAPABILITY MIX
        3. TRACKING DOWN YOUR TRAITS
        4. DEVELOPING YOUR SKILLS
      2. Chapter 3: Enterprises Are Needy
        1. PROJECTS, PROCESSES, AND CULTURE: THE THREE BASICS
        2. SURVIVING THE FOUR STAGES OF ENTERPRISE MATURITY
      3. Chapter 4: Building Relationships
        1. SHARED OBJECTIVES: THE FOUNDATION OF ALL RELATIONSHIPS
        2. UNDERSTANDING COOPERATION
        3. UNDERSTANDING COMPETITION
        4. UNDERSTANDING RETREAT
        5. BUILDING POWERFUL RELATIONSHIPS
        6. ELS AND THE SKILL OF RELATIONSHIP BUILDING
        7. ELs AND THE SKILL OF COMMUNICATION
        8. OVERCOMING COMMUNICATION BIASES
        9. BUILDING POWERFUL COMPLEMENTARY RELATIONSHIPS FOR THE LONG TERM
      4. Chapter 5: Motivating Others
        1. MOTIVATION AND SELF-ACTUALIZATION
        2. MOTIVATIONAL ISSUES WITH THE SEGWAY
        3. DIFFERENT STAGES, DIFFERENT MOTIVATORS
      5. Chapter 6: Leading Change
        1. THE ANXIETY OF CHANGE
        2. LEARNING TO CHANGE
        3. LINING UP THE DUCKS
        4. EXPLAINING THE IMPORTANCE OF CHANGE
        5. WORKING WITH THE TEAM
        6. NOTHING IS PERFECT
      6. Chapter 7: Creating a Personal Leadership Strategy
        1. STEP ONE: TAPPING INTO CORE MOTIVATIONS
        2. STEP TWO: GETTING OBJECTIVE MENTORS
        3. STEP THREE: INVENTORYING YOUR TRAITS
        4. STEP FOUR: ASSESS YOUR SKILLS
        5. STEP FIVE: DRAFTING A PERSONAL LEADERSHIP STRATEGY
    9. PART TWO: APPLICATION OF ENTREPRENEURIAL LEADERSHIP SKILLS
      1. Chapter 8: Strategizing Fragile Growth
        1. TWO TYPES OF ENTREPRENEURIAL STRATEGIES
        2. BASIC STRATEGIC QUESTIONS
        3. STAGES AS STRATEGIC BEACONS
      2. Chapter 9: Organizing to Succeed
        1. (UN)CONTROLLABLE BY DESIGN
        2. FORMAL AND INFORMAL
        3. ORGANIZATIONS HELP ENTERPRISES MATURE
        4. ORGANIZING STAGE ONE
        5. ORGANIZING STAGE TWO
        6. ORGANIZING STAGE THREE
        7. ORGANIZING STAGE FOUR
      3. Chapter 10: Hiring and Firing
        1. PRECIOUS LOST TIME
        2. HIRING AS A PROCESS
        3. FIRING EFFECTIVELY
      4. Chapter 11: Leading Teams
        1. A LITTLE MOTIVATION DELIVERS A BIG IMPACT
        2. DISCOVERING THE VALUE OF DUCKS
        3. LEADERS ADMIT THEIR MISTAKES
        4. THE IMPORTANCE OF STRONG EMOTIONS
        5. LEADING A BOARD OF DIRECTORS
        6. LEADING TEAMS OF TALENT
      5. Chapter 12: Leading Through Crises
        1. CRISES ARE INEVITABLE
        2. THE PHASES OF CRISIS LEADERSHIP
        3. CRISIS LEADERS ARE SELF-AWARE
        4. BABY STEPPING THROUGH A CRISIS
        5. LEARNING YOUR LESSONS
        6. THE CRITICAL IMPORTANCE OF SLACK TIME
      6. Chapter 13: The Selfish Rewards of Selfless Entrepreneurial Acts
        1. ELs SELFISHLY HELP OTHERS
        2. THE ATTRACTION OF SINCERE SELFISHNESS
        3. VALUABLE IDEAS ARE EVERYWHERE
    10. APPENDIX A: Motivations, Traits, and Skills
    11. APPENDIX B: The Five Essential Entrepreneurial Leadership Skills
    12. APPENDIX C: Characteristics of Projects, Processes, and Culture
    13. APPENDIX D: Characteristics of Enterprises and Their Leaders in Stages One Through Four
      1. STAGE ONE: CUSTOMER VALIDATION
      2. STAGE TWO: OPERATIONAL VALIDATION
      3. STAGE THREE: FINANCIAL VALIDATION
      4. STAGE FOUR: SELF-SUSTAINABILITY
    14. APPENDIX E: Relationship Building and the Benefits and Costs of Cooperation, Competition, and Retreat
    15. APPENDIX F: The Five Prerequisites of Change (The Five Ducks)
    16. APPENDIX G: Ten Basic Strategic Questions
    17. APPENDIX H: Five Phases of Crisis Resolution
    18. NOTES
    19. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
    20. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
    21. INDEX

    Product information

    • Title: Startup Leadership: How Savvy Entrepreneurs Turn Their Ideas Into Successful Enterprises
    • Author(s): Derek Lidow
    • Release date: March 2014
    • Publisher(s): Jossey-Bass
    • ISBN: 9781118697054