Surely, you've heard about how hot the startup market is and how this is a golden opportunity for entrepreneurs. However, you may not be familiar with the importance and the need for effective leadership, that is, the type of leader you need to be to build a successful business.

Although many companies are concerned with developing business strategies, in some cases, many end up not prioritizing other basic stages of their structure, such as management and business leadership.

‍

‍

According to one recent study published in the Harvard Business Review, this absence of leadership was considered one of the main reasons behind the failure of startups that initially showed promise but ended up collapsing in a period of less than four years.

In this article, you will understand the importance of effective leadership and how you can apply this to your business to create a stronger brand in the market.

CEO and his role as a leader

In a company, one of the most well-known positions is that of CEO (Chief Executive Officer), and this corporate acronym can be translated as executive director or general director of the company.

This professional holds the highest position of authority and has characteristics and functions that are different from other collaborators. Its activities include the management of the entire executive body, decision-making in administrative sectors, the leadership of the company, the intermediation in communication with shareholders, and the leadership of all strategic planning. In addition, he is the most qualified professional to implement the company's values.

Being a CEO goes beyond management, it is a compilation of characteristics that make this professional stand out and be recognized in the market. It's worth noting that not every leader is a CEO and not every CEO is a leader. Leadership is a Soft Skill dominated by a few.

That way, in order to have a greater corporate sustainability it is essential that this professional knows how to act in two aspects: in the position of leader and in the position of manager.

The CEO's vision as a leader is linked to the image and the perpetuation of the company's culture. Therefore, it is necessary to be concerned with all aspects of the company, from the product to the recruitment and retention of talent.

To know how to lead is to have, at the same time, a broad and detailed vision. It means welcoming and also knowing the right time to make tougher decisions.
On the other hand, the CEO as a manager is directly related to the definition of strategies, the execution of goals, and the monitoring of progress. These functions allow professionals to use their previously acquired knowledge to apply to the structural part of the company.

Therefore, in addition to these characteristics and responsibilities, it is clear that this professional is in a position that involves extremely high risks. So, to help you better understand how to apply good leadership in practice, here are some examples.

Stewart Butterfield, CEO of Slack

The messaging application was founded in 2013 with an innovative vision of being a commercial communication platform that allows the exchange of information and documents in an agile manner. In 2020, the biggest expansion of the platform took place and a major restructuring of the company was necessary, based on user feedback, as demand for the app increased sharply.

Taking advantage of the pandemic scenario made Slack increase its revenue, but it also showed the importance of a great leader for making quick decisions and the constant need to adapt its product to the final consumer.

Eric Yuan, CEO of Zoom

Zoom was created based on the needs of its founder. Yuan realized the need for a more dynamic and personal interaction between video call users, however, it took a few years for the idea to mature and polished until it reached the final audience.

The videoconferencing startup was founded in 2012, but it was in 2020 that the company reached the world. In the case of Zoom, the vision of its creator, the market analysis, the maturation decision, and the hiring of the right professionals made it what it is today.

3 Leadership Secrets Every Successful Startup CEO Knows

The startup market is quite promising, but Think like a startup requires leaders to adapt their methodology whenever necessary to optimize the performance of the entire company. With that in mind, here are three big insights to reflect and consolidate your role in the company.

1. Formulate and nurture a clear vision

At the origin of every startup is the reason why the company was born, its purpose, its values and its philosophy. For there to be unity of understanding, it is necessary that all this information be passed on to all members of the company.

Nourishing and formulating a clear vision of how the company behaves, how it positions itself and what are the values it prioritizes, makes the team work with uniformity, understanding and replicating, in the work environment and beyond it, the vision and its culture.. In this way, employees feel closer to each other, more important and, consequently, boost the organization's productivity.
According to a study published by CBIsights, about 5% of companies fail because they do not have a clear vision about their values and purpose.

2. Embrace strategic failure

Analyzing the market is always the first step to be taken by a startup, especially after the exponential growth of this industry in recent years, making this task even more necessary. In this sense, in addition to analyzing the positive aspects of the competition, it is essential to see and set goals based on the existing possibilities of failure.

The difference between good leadership and terrible leadership is the way in which one deals with adversity. Being prepared to fail makes you experience the feeling beforehand and devise solutions in advance - not falling into the mistake of waiting to happen in order to act, but rather minimally premeditating the possible paths to be followed in a possible crisis.

After all, not expecting difficulties and not preparing for unwanted scenarios, besides being naive and counterproductive, can be fatal.

3. Eliminate the ego

A company needs to be seen as a collaborative unit, with different functions between employees, but always on the premise that there should be no single effort. Working collaboratively is the balancing point of successful leadership.

Understanding that each employee, from the highest level to the lowest, is part of the mechanism that makes the startup work, helps to suppress the ego and individualism that often lead to poor management and failure.

Disharmony, ego, and misaligned labor demand should not be structural practices of a startup that seeks growth and development. Therefore, it is necessary to work on the company's internal environment so that external results are achieved.

What separates the top 10% of startup CEOs from everything else?

Surely, if you've come this far, you've understood the importance of great leadership. In addition to having this understanding, to achieve good results you need to know how to stand out and what separates the main CEOs who act as leaders from everything else.

The qualities that make a CEO stand out, most of the time, are not related to Hard Skills, but they are behavioral (Soft Skills), and the reflection of this can be seen in the number of startups opened in 2022 and the number of closed startups.

These characteristics can be seen, for example, through the act of being good at hiring and firing, being adaptable, being resilient, knowing how to listen and act, being authentic, having clarity of vision, being a good speaker, and having the ability to defend the client.

To give you a full understanding of these qualities, here are some examples of how they are performed:

• Be good at hiring and firing:

It is necessary to recognize and hire talent, which often means selling the dream and the company to the other person. Therefore, you as a leader and CEO need to know the qualities that exist in an employee and if they suit the company's needs.

On the other hand, to know how to fire is to know how to position yourself and understand the company's priorities in relation to the contractor. As difficult as it is a process, it must be seen as a crucial step to help the company grow.

• Be a good speaker:

A CEO and leader must be clear and objective, their speech must reach all audiences. In addition, it is necessary to know how to adapt the speech with as few words as possible.

The best speakers are able to reach crowds and make them fight and believe in their vision and ideas, without requiring much effort. The power of conviction, in this regard, is what sets a good speaker apart.

• Defend the interests of your clients:

The goal of any company is to have a feedback positive from your customers and, for this reason, it is necessary to prioritize them. The creation of a valuable startup goes far beyond just making a product or service available on the market, it is relating to its customers, listening to them and making itself available.

To grow in a leadership position, you need to think about and evaluate what type of leader you are and what type of leader you are willing to be. Reflecting on this allows the learning process to be easier and clearer, thus providing greater openness to growth possibilities.

Finally, it is worth saying that startups are companies that are already born with technology in their DNA. Therefore, in addition to developing your social skills, it is imperative to have the best techniques to conquer the market. An example is the use of artificial intelligence and digital documents to optimize your processes and boost your billing.

In an increasingly disruptive and digitized world, it is important that Hard Skills and Soft Skills always complement each other to take your business to a new level.

_________

What did you think of Hard Skills And Das Soft Skills from a CEO? Comment below if you identify yourself with a skill or if you still have any questions regarding the topic.

To have an even more positive impact on the growth of your company, the Growth Hacking method can help you with this. Read our post”Growth Hacking: What Is It and How Can It Leverage Your Business?” and follow the news here on the clicksign blog.