Founders Role in Scaling their Company

In any discussion of business models, one of the primary questions is: is it scalable?

Answers to this question typically run to discussions of financial, technological or physical resources. However, what often fails to get addressed when looking at scalability is the human side of the business. The financial, technical and physical resources, although certainly not easily obtained, seem to be more available than the most scarce resource today -- talent.

One of the major roles of the CEO/Founder is that of coach, which involves all the ways that you can help your people develop professionally.  And, like the CEO, one of their major challenges is also becoming better leaders.

Scalability requires the CEO/Founder to become a leader of leaders; to not only practice leadership but to teach it as well.  For many, this means learning a whole new skill set and developing the willingness to go beyond their own personal comfort zones. But for entrepreneurial business leaders, the reward for this clarity, focus and commitment to the CEO role is the ability to continually scale or grow your business."

Roles of the Founder

The good news is that there are numerous resources available to help CEOs accomplish this challenging task of becoming a leader of leaders.

Key executives/founders in entrepreneurial companies also have six essential roles. Some of these coincide with the six essential roles of the CEO, others reflect the more operational nature of the position.

1. Co-strategist. First and foremost, key executives must contribute to the development of strategy. They must use the knowledge and information they gain from their critical vantage points to help set the future direction of the company.
2. Team leader. Like the CEO, key executives must make the difficult transition from functional expert to leader. They may go kicking and screaming, but you must drag them out of their familiar, comfortable, functional roles and into this new, ambiguous and demanding role of team leader.
3. Content expert. In their specific areas of knowledge or expertise, key executives need to bring global best practices to bear on the current, everyday practices of the company.
4. Champion of change. Key executives need to beat the drum, wave the flag and point their people in the right direction, while constantly reinforcing the vision of why the company must go forward.
5. Role Model. Key executives must march shoulder-to-shoulder with the CEO, actually living the values that are spoken for the company.
6. Student. As with the CEO, key executives must engage in continued professional development, but as students of leadership, not of the technical/functional turf they manage within the organization.