If you are here
If you are here you’ve already decided you can become an entrepreneur. I’ll assume you have the passion, the guts and the ability to see the glass as half full. You don’t mind eating vast quantities of mac’n cheese. You are either not in an important relationship or your significant other has faith in you and shares some of your same traits. Where will you begin?
People are the most important part on any business. I expect that’s obvious, but when I went to Electrical Engineering school at Marquette University there were some people in attendance who would not have come up with that insight. Without people to do the work of business nothing happens.
The smaller the organization the more important the people are. You could be alone or with a half-dozen others. Entrepreneurial type operations generally fall in this category whether they are pure start-ups or some form of franchise.
In his book Good To Great, Jim Collins points out that not only do you have to have people, but you have to have the right people, as he says, “on the bus”. In other words you have to have the right mix of individuals committed to a business. This seems obvious to me, but I’ve been kicking around start-up businesses and other volatile types of enterprises for thirty years. If you haven’t worked for five different companies in your career, I suggest that you read his book. Otherwise you should know everything he has to say.
Small new business enterprises are always risky. One in ten survives five years or more. You get the people right and you have a chance. “Wrong people” means you’re “dead meat”. The really bad news is that everyone who deals with you; venture capitalists, suppliers, customers, will know it instinctively.
That begs the question, who are the right people? It depends. Who are you?
There are many articles and books written that give you lists of the type of people to have on your team. Actually, I think in terms of roles not people or personalities that I have dealt with. Some of the roles are
* True believer – always sees the dream
* Cheerleader – always positive
* Devil’s advocate – sees the dream, but looks for the pitfalls
* Accountant – watches the money
* Detail person – quality control
* Artist – enhances the esthetic of the product or service to the
client
* Researcher – looks for the next level of product or service
The lists go on. The idea is to put competing roles into conflict with one another so that problems can be surfaced and addressed before they become critical to the business. The obvious types to avoid are bullies and egomaniacs. Think Martha Stewart, Enron and Health South. If you haven’t found at least two lists on your own you aren’t preparing yourself as diligently as you need to.
Now for something I never found in business literature. Every member of the team must know how to take and give criticism. Next to honesty this is the most important personal skill team members can bring to the table.
Criticism must never be personal or taken personally. 99 times out of 100 there are only two sources of this type of criticism. First, the situation or idea being criticized is not fully understood by the critic. Second, the situation or idea has not been properly explained by the advocate. It is the responsibility of the critic and the advocate come to the same understanding about what is going on. Once this happened our people were amazed at how easily the next action became apparent.
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