How will you lead?

Mic BermanAdvisor, Embedded COO, Coach

@micbermanwww.michalberman.com

Caveat - based on my journey and learning● MBA● Eng: no formal

training; Built my own

● Startups since 1999● USA; EU; Africa

Know thyself - how will you model leadership! ● What are you

exceptional, good and bad at?

● What do you value?● What’s your management

style?● Personality test or two?● Watch out for your own

biases - hire more women and/or people that don’t look like you!

Not doing this will result in wrong hires and churn

Build your bench strength● Expertise + people leaders

- these are also different things

● Surround yourself with great coaches, advisors, mentors and board members - these are different things

● Build alignment early and often - this is a practice that never goes away

● Build great teams (Kevin’s talk)

FreshBooks

Not doing this results in lost money time and talent

6 things you must do to ensure your success1. Be a strong leader● High performance

aspirations● Demanding/ ’

unreasonable’● Effective at top

(alignment; focus)● Ability to operate

at all levels of business

● Healthy attitude to failure

● Pursue your Vision relentlessly

● Highly motivating/ inspiring end-state or mission driven

● Passionate defenders - take care of people they will take care of your customers who will take care of your business

● Product-market focus in lean way

● Drive a strong culture (of excellence)

● Real follow-through of accountability - esp at and from ‘top’

● Great places to work, exemplify leaders values

● Only top performance rules○ Execute on

extraordinary experiences everyday

Source: adapation of ‘Alchemy of Growth’ Mehrdad Baghai and my experience

Attributes of great startups; don’t do them at your peril

2. 3.

● Align Product- Marketing- Engineering

● Instrument your app● Common vision; No ego

- just what works; No silo’s

● Share goals and focus eg councils

● Regular meetings on results, learning and future

● Healthy attitude to failure

● Lean product-market focus; lean analytics

● Create people systems● CEO is also Chief

People Officer; involved, cares and shapes

● Clear focus on performance and motivation

● CEO-led annual “staffing review” – best people/teams in most critical, demanding jobs

● “Bench strength”a top priority

6 attributes of high performance startups● Prepare to scale● Simple thoughtful

organizational design to support decision and communication flows

● Do many things well, and at least one functional skill at world class level – underpins strategy

● Clear focus on performance and motivation

Source: adapation of ‘Alchemy of Growth’ Mehrdad Baghai and my experience

5.4. 6.

Go forth and prosper@micberman

Michalberman.com