By Susanna Kislenko, PhD
Founders who want their companies to scale must evolve their leadership, knowing when to adapt, delegate and build beyond themselves.
One of the biggest mistakes that founders can make is continuing to lead beyond start-up in the same way they did prior to scaling. The key is remaining self-aware enough to both understand yourself and know what kind of leadership your company needs over the long-term.
There is a threshold moment in every founder’s trajectory when they have to decide whether to step out of their company in any form of exit or if they are going to continue to lead it into the next stage of its growth. I have interviewed hundreds of founders around the world in my decade-long journey of understanding long-term founder leadership and I once had a founder, who had been leading his company for over 15 years, share the following:
We got to a certain size now but it may take a better person to go to the next level, even though I have a philosophy of how we can continue to grow maybe this way. So it’ll be interesting to see if I have the shoulders to take it to the next level. I hope so.
I remember being struck hearing this answer because even as he was continuing to lead his firm successfully, he was also aware of the reality that his organization may outgrow him. More specifically, that it may outgrow his own capacity as a leader. This is the kind of dual view that is required to create and lead an organization that is continuing to scale and grow at a consistent pace.
Can You See Yourself Clearly?
There is a phenomenon I study under the umbrella of long-term founder leadership which is called Founder’s Syndrome. Whether you have worked in founder-led organizations before or if you are a founder yourself, you have most certainly experienced some version of this or its effects. Founder’s Syndrome is essentially when the founder has a hard time delegating, trusting anyone else in a position of leadership within their organization and, in extreme cases, refusing to plan for succession.
The moment when your organization is ready to scale is precisely the critical threshold that you need to pay careful attention to as a founder leader. It is the first instance of scaling that is important, but it is also every scaling moment that comes after it. Just like any living being, your organization will continue to grow and evolve. Organizations, just like human beings, are meant to change over time. Even if the scaling level in your organization does not feel as grand as others you may have seen, the same internal inquiries apply – are you seeing yourself clearly as a leader while navigating these organizational changes?
The Cautionary Tale of Nasty Gal
What can sometimes happen when an organization is scaling and the founder is still leading it is that the founder can begin to focus only on what they know well rather than seeking additional skills or support to ensure that the needs of the organization are being met. One example of this is Sophia Amoruso, who was the founder of a vintage clothing company called Nasty Gal. Amoruso founded the company in 2006 and by 2012, it was named the fastest growing retailer in the US.
Amoruso’s expertise was in marketing and she failed to heed the advice of the operations and financial executives in the company who were emphasizing the extreme level of spending on marketing that was happening as the organization was scaling, without the follow through in sales revenue. If Amoruso’s name sounds familiar, she is also the person who popularized the term #girlboss by penning a book by the same name in 2014. By 2015, Amoruso did realize that she needed to bring in additional support and hired Sheree Waterson as the CEO while Amoruso retained the title of founder and executive chairwoman. This shift proved to be too late and may not have actually allowed Waterson the freedom to turn the sinking ship around. In 2016, Nasty Gal filed for bankruptcy and Amoruso was forced to resign as executive chairwoman.
What You Can Do Now
There are so many things you can do to not end up in a similar predicament and have your organization be set up for success. First, take stock of your own strengths and weaknesses specifically from the angle of being a leader for your organization. You can do this on your own, with the support of a coach and/or your executive team. To prepare for the conversations, make sure that you are truly ready to go there within yourself as things could come up in these discussions that may trigger you in various forms – make sure you are prepared to face your shadows, so to speak.
The next thing you can do is do some soul searching around what you really want for your organization: how do you see it growing and which direction would you like it to go in? Once you have that clear, the question to reflect on is whether you have the skills to get it there. Also, do you have the team you need around you (which might include recruiting the right board members)? There are people around you who may have been with you from the start of the organization, but you may need to ask the tough question of whether they are really in the right roles or if they are rather there because of their loyalty to you as an individual. Having the courage to ask these questions – and not be attached to the outcome – will ensure that your company can grow and thrive long into the future.
Dr. Susanna Kislenko
