The Definition of a Leader

Leaders come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and styles.  Some are more effective than others, but in its most fundamental form, the definition of a leader is someone who can attract followers. 

Earlier this week, I guest spoke to a college class focused on innovation and startups. One of the questions that was asked was how I, as a non-technologist CEO building high-potential, technology-based startups, was successful in repeatedly convincing bright technologists to follow me?  After all, I am on my fifth technical startup – and the technologists at the core of most of them have not been repeats, so I suppose it is potentially interesting to reflect on what it means to convene and lead as a founding startup CEO.

I think the first layer of the answer lies in the fundamental reality that the building blocks of organizations, even ones that are intended to develop and commercialize some amazing technological innovation, are people, not technology. Teams come together and coalesce under the influence of leader(s). And leadership is all about providing what people need to take effective team-based action to accomplish some goal. 

So then the question becomes what is it that makes me an effective leader? Some of it is likely simply the way I am wired. Thinking about the endless nature versus nurture, I would like to be able to say that leadership can be taught, and I do believe that it can certainly be developed, however, I do think some foundational elements are personality-based. 

For example, my parents observed that even at a very young age, I was taking over and directing groups. I was prone to declaring a plan and persuading others to adopt it. I have seen other children, including my own, who exhibit similar tendencies. Ultimately, I became intentional about developing my leadership skills. As part of an organizational psychology degree in college, I took every available course on leadership. I sought out opportunities to lead ever-larger teams in a wide variety of situations. Over time, I grew into an accomplished, effective leader in every life domain.  In fact, today, I have to consciously choose to not lead sometimes, both because there are limits to how much I can take on and to intentionally make room for others to exercise their leadership. So, building on my core personality, I have learned, and cultivated skills and habits that enable me to be an effective leader—and one of the places I apply those skills is as a startup CEO. 

Because leadership skills are so important to the success of a startup founder, a great test to determine whether someone has “what it takes” to be a startup CEO is for the prospective CEO to just start leading and doing the work of being a CEO.  If they can figure out how to provide all the important pieces that a startup CEO needs to provide, others will begin to engage and follow. With some time and hard work, the emerging startup CEO will assemble and integrate a technical team, coalesce a group of supporting investors, figure out an attractive product value proposition, and begin to build.  In other words, the startup CEO will demonstrate that defining characteristic of a leader.  They will attract and motivate followers.  And the resulting team will begin to accomplish great things and build momentum.  A “leader” who cannot do that is unfortunately NOT a leader. Leaders lead. It is not something that can genuinely be conferred any other way.  Even in situations where someone lands in a “leadership role” without the skills and qualities to be a leader will find that they have to resort to authoritarian tactics to get things done and that usually won’t accomplish great things.

Reflecting on the specifics of assembling a team of brilliant technologists and ultimately leading them, there is an implication that a non-technologist cannot lead technologists. I can say that, in my experience, that assumption is categorically false. That is not to say that the non-technologist (me) does not have to invest in developing my understanding of the critical dimensions of the relevant technologies to be most effective. However, I think this question fails to recognize the point that many technologists want the complementary skills and business context to wrap around their myriad inventions. They often would prefer not to deal with all the market variables, squishy people problems, and the requirement to constantly be selling our story to everyone who will listen. A frequent question I get asked by technologists who are looking to become co-founders is how do I go about finding someone who will lead, make decisions in the grey, be responsible for the non-technical strategy, and figure out how to build it all into a successful company? These smart technologists are self-aware enough to recognize that those are not their strengths and to look for a complementary leader who can bring those strengths to the team.

Ultimately, a successful startup leader will be someone who can visualize the path forward.  Organize the resources and articulate the direction.  Bust down the barriers and persuade people to put their whole hearts into accomplishing the compelling mission you are articulating. Seek and incorporate feedback.  Course correct. Reinforce. Drive with finesse.   

They will bring essential leadership qualities to bear:

• Confidence.
• Vision. 
• Integrity. 
• Communication. 
• Passion. 
• Organization. 
• Boldness.
• Movement. 
• Decisiveness. 
• Risk-taking. 

And in doing so, they will add tremendous value by providing the fuel to drive the team in a successful direction.