Entrepreneurial Leadership

Team members who are funny lighten burdens and make work fun. Self-deprecating humor—particularly from leaders unafraid of laughing at their foibles—comes not from self-doubt but from self-confidence.

Of course, not every leader will be likable, grateful, happy, humble, and humorous. Some leaders are just plain jerks.

If attitudes don’t include likability, gratitude, happiness, humility, and humor, consider using the techniques discussed in Rewriting Your Operating System

Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfills the same function as pain in the human body; it calls attention to an unhealthy state of things. —Winston Churchill,

The aim is to build a culture in which people feel confident about sharing feedback without fearing that it will be taken personally. Honest, thoughtful feedback can build trust, strengthen bonds, and generate progress. Done well, it’s the breakfast of champions.

good coaching: successful people continue to seek it out, no matter what level they have reached.

Learn to give—and to receive—regular feedback,

Make feedback fun, a way to learn and to grow, never taking offense, always seeing it as information that can either be incorporated or ignored.

Consider hiring a coach to help you gain the skills you need, just as if you were an elite athlete.

Treat [the person you’re firing] the same way you’d want to be treated if you were in that situation. They’re still a good person, just not the right fit.

entrepreneurial leaders must become as skilled at firing as they are at hiring.

People will always need to be let go because it’s impossible to be error-free in hiring—to bring on only those who fit with the organization and perform flawlessly.

People need to move on, and they won’t always be the first to recognize it.

What matters as much as actually removing people is how people are treated during the process.

Don’t wait for a “firing offense.” It’s natural to procrastinate when deciding to move someone out of a job. Good managers are compassionate and empathetic, and this leads many to repeatedly give underperformers one last chance. Some managers go further, awaiting some dramatic event or ethical breach to clearly justify the firing. Avoid this trap.

Document the smaller, quieter moments of underperformance and establish a trendline.

When that situation can’t be fixed quickly, it’s time to act. Just as when a wide receiver consistently fails to catch the ball, the rest of the team deserves to have a more reliable player on the field.

four lies managers tell themselves to avoid firing people: (1) the person’s performance will get better; (2) having somebody in the role is better than having nobody while we search to fill it; (3) it’s smarter to transfer the person to another department than to fire him or her; and (4) firing the person will be bad for morale.

Be willing to fire friends or family.

Good managers separate friendship from