A founder faces a crucial decision at the outset of any new entrepreneurial venture. He or she must choose between two competing leadership styles. And the choice can make all the difference.
In our book, Breakthrough Entrepreneurship, we interviewed and analyzed the personalities behind a large number of successful (and unsuccessful) new ventures. In short, we found that entrepreneurial leadership styles fall roughly into two categories:
An empowering leader employs a relatively decentralized leadership approach that builds consensus and squeezes every bit of knowledge, wisdom, and drive possible out of the team, laying the groundwork for long-term success.
An assertive leader, in contrast, lays out his or her vision and drives the team to meet the goals--and use the methods--that the leader expects.
Be an Assertive Leader
Most leadership experts and books will advocate for some form of empowering leadership. But in the context of a young start-up, we think that's wrong. Assertiveness wins. Here's why:
As an entrepreneur, you don't often have the luxury of making the long term your very top priority. You'll almost certainly face significant constraints in terms of time, people, and money. You're going to have to find ways to do more than your competitors with less. That means you don't have time to build consensus. You need to move fast, apply the 80-20 rule, and get things done. Empowerment would be ideal, but often it's neither practical nor possible in the early days.
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