Leadership requires other people
The slow week of the holidays is a good time to reflect on things besides the tyranny of the urgent. One of the things to consider is how well you're doing your job - whether it is employee, or CEO. As I reflect on my role, I find it useful to focus my attention on what it means to be a CEO.
The bottom line: A leader isn't a leader unless he's part of a team that's aligned with him. There has to be a great team in order to have a strong CEO. While a football quarterback may be a leader, he can't play the game without wide receivers, running backs, and a front line - and that's on offense alone. And the better the team around him, the more the team wins.
I hope I'm that leader now. Regardless, I resolve to strive during 2007 to continue to build the best team possible for Plum Canary, and to be so effective in leading them that we become the best small software player in our league.
Other things that occur to me at the moment:
- Losses are as important as wins. While winning is the goal, losses will happen. Thank goodness for them. They show us our weak points, and what we need to work on.
- Nimbleness is the most powerful weapon of small companies. Don't get too relaxed; always be looking to move fast, find openings, and serve markets others aren't seeing (yet).
- Money is a tool - not a goal. In fact, money helps you make more money. Let's be effective in the way we think about it this year, and not be hesitant to use it when we have it, or let lack of it make us be a slave to it (or its sources).
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