Entrepreneurial Leadership

Everyone’s attempts at self-correction will be different. The point is to identify what needs fixing and begin to fix it.

Any attempt to repair or improve one’s own operating system must begin with an honest appraisal of flaws, imperfections, and negative tendencies.

When a team is made up of fewer than a half-dozen people, a new leader’s job may be simply to serve as domain expert with assistants to carry some of the load. In this role, the fledgling leader may work as a sort of supercharged performer, an enhanced doer, an incipient manager—but not yet a full-fledged leader.

the transition from producer to manager is about dealing with increased complexity—about keeping more balls in the air, about taking responsibility for the work of others, about intervening with discretion, and about managing tasks that are part of a strategic whole.

Initially, the transition from producer to manager is about dealing with increased complexity—about keeping more balls in the air, about taking responsibility for the work of others, about intervening with discretion, and about managing tasks that are part of a strategic whole.

We become what we think about.

We become what we think about. Decide what you want to be, design your personal brand, and repair the operating system you inherited.

Realize you will need different operating systems for different tasks as you move from manager to leader. Be flexible and patient with yourself as you try on different lenses.

“We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for a brand called You.”

the strongest personal brands are built differently, via one-to-one, in-real-life interaction—that is, the things we do with and for each other. We build our brands a conversation at a time, an action at a time, and a decision at a time.

aim for a quieter and more authentic consistency, reliability, and generosity.

Choose the five attributes you would like to have associated with your personal brand. Behave in ways that allow others to see these qualities in you.

No success in public life can compensate for failure in the home.

“Sir, I’m sorry, but I reserve Sundays for my family,” I said. “I’m happy to come in as early as you like on Monday morning, but I am not available to work on Sundays.”

clear boundaries I set the first time I’d faced this request.

Entrepreneurial leaders must manage their time effectively—and that’s true both in the office and at home.

Time for family and friends, for health, for learning, for recreation, and for reflection all need scheduling. Work priorities may have to take a back seat when more important ones won’t.

Raising children is the ultimate long-term investment; very often, the day-to-day work of a parent can feel frustrating or unrewarding, especially during the sometimes sullen teenage years.

family is the bull’s-eye at the center of my life and priorities.

people think of their lives like a big mason jar. After fitting in “the big rocks”—the important stuff—fill the remaining space with pebbles, then sand. And there’s still a lot of room for water—the analogy’s least important matters, filling the interstices.