From my experience speaking to founders, managers and business leaders, laying people off is one of the hardest things a person will have to do during their careers.
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What I Learnt from Laying Off 40 Staff
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The Reality of Travelling Solo
Everyone will craft their own unique path in life. Some are driven by their own and societal perceptions of success, which typically involves working at a well-known business or in a recognised profession. Others may focus on driving social impact and change. Equally, many are yet to work it out just yet, and it is important to realise that that is completely OK. Some of the most successful people I have ever met stumbled into what they are doing, so don’t get too stressed over it.
As a consumer, competition is usually great – it spurs innovation and leads to more efficient pricing. In this post, however, I am going to focus on competition in life, and why it can actually be sub-optimal.
Being a good listener is one of the most important attributes you can have as an entrepreneur. You need to heed some (but definitely not all) of the advice given to you by advisors/mentors/investors, as well as take on feedback from your customers and users. It is also essential to listen to some of the ideas your team and employees come up with – if you don’t listen properly, you will regret it days/weeks/months down the line when things begin to unravel beneath your feet.
Working in (or running) an early-stage startup can be one of the most volatile experiences of your life. The mixture of monumental highs assuming that you’re somewhere on the right path combined with depressing lows is quite unique in a career/lifestyle. There will be times where you question your self-belief and wonder why you are doing what you are doing. Your resilience is an important factor in helping you bounce back, so it is good to have an understanding of what helps keep you strong.
I have heard the phrase “knowledge is power” (“scientia potentia est” is the original phrase coined in Latin) regularly used throughout my life – at university, in the workplace and even in Hollywood movies. Never, though, have I felt this phrase to be more appropriate than when applied to behavioural & leadership psychology (or influencing people).
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Hiring (and Firing)
Over the course of the last year or so, I have met with, spoken to or been to talks featuring many different CEOs and start-up founders. I like to ask them about some of the biggest mistakes that they’ve made (in the futile hope that I can learn from them) or what advice they would give to an aspiring/early-stage entrepreneur. What is interesting is that the answer they all give is almost always the same.
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The Finiteness of Time
Many of us in the Western world do not realise how fortunate we are. We stress over trivial things such as deadlines, deals falling through and being late to meetings. I find things as simple as dental check-ups terrifying – the disruption to my usual schedule and worry that I might need another filling/tooth taken out leaves me dreading every visit.
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Reasons to Start a Start-Up
There are a whole load of reasons why people might want to start a start-up. It is important to know what reason yours is, because some of these reasons only make sense in certain contexts, and some of them will actually lead you astray.
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What Makes a Great Founder?
When people think of great founders, they think of people like Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk or Steve Jobs – people who have this unwavering drive and vision; who can captivate people and lead them on a journey. However, what made these guys truly successful was the support network they built around themselves – their founding team. The reality is that it is almost impossible for one person to have all the characteristics of a great founder. What is possible, however, is having all of these great characteristics shared between yourself and your co-founders.
