by Tom Nies, CEO, Cincom Systems, Inc.
Leaders deal in ideas.
The more relevant and significant the ideas may be, the greater and the more substantial are the opportunities, the challenges and the need for leaders.
Contrary to the criticism that America is a nation of greedy, pleasure--seeking, crass and non--intellectual materialists, where ideas are said at best to be only means to ends, America is actually a great stage on which diverse ideas and theories have been played as both tragedies and comedies.
On this vast panopoly, the matter of the historical "is now" has consistently been formed through the pragmatic and philosophic "ought to be," as the raw, natural "givens" and resources have submitted to yokes of science and the innovative determination of the human spirit and our collective will. Leaders have led the way in all of this.
The Majestic March of Principles
America's story is the majestic and triumphant march of the principles of freedom and equality. These two ideas have been the seminal roots to all that we Americans have done and are doing. In these processes, there have been almost no accidents – no chance events. In the cogent words of Franklin Roosevelt, "Things don't just happen, they are caused to happen."
Almost everything that happens among us is related to one or both of these principles of freedom and equality. In some cases, our dramas present a triumph over some opposition to them, or focus upon a dispute about which of these two quite often opposing ideas should have the primacy, and of the ways that the conflicts between individual opportunity and that uniquely achieved excellence which so brilliantly differentiates the few from the many, can be reconciled with the idea of equality.
As America's march has proceeded under the banners of freedom and equality, their differences have occasionally put them at odds with one another, just as Tocqueville had said that the two ideas of freedom and equality could always be somewhat in conflict with each other.
The Entrepreneur and the Pursuit of Happiness
Since so much of our energy and effort has been in "the pursuit of happiness," which better economic and environmental circumstance help to provide, the entrepreneur has played a leading role in both the tragedies and the comedies that have affected our lives and our history, and has thus far helped to reconcile the conflicts that will probably always exist among us.
Hallmarks of Successful Entrepreneurial Leadership
Successful entrepreneurial leaders
- Create a compelling vision of where the organization should head,
- Continuously communicate how to proceed and
- Energetically guide, encourage and develop the organization's capabilities to advance that vision in a relentless and resolute pursuit of sustained success.
Unshakeable will, undaunted determination and relentless pursuit of desires and goals are key hallmarks of these endeavors.
Mastery of the Entrepreneurial Art
Entrepreneurial success, like success in any pursuit, is about the consummate understanding and mastery of key principles and not about following rules. A rule states, "You must do it this way." A principle says, "This works – and usually works well – and has done so through all remembered time." The difference is crucial.
A rule states, "You must do it this way."
A principle says, "This works – and usually works well – and has done so through all remembered time."
The difference is crucial.
The anxious and lesser-experienced try to follow rules; the rebellious, unschooled and ignorant break rules – usually unwittingly so. Worse still, all of these types of practitioners try to succeed focusing upon only subsets of situations without realizing how all of the forces at work interact in both conflicting and supporting ways.
But the master of an art, any art, develops mastery over the form of the art using time-tested and time-proven principles.
Mastery of the art should be the ideal of every entrepreneur.
Machiavelli and a host of others have written about the ways and wiles of princes, but not in a manner that is of best use in a world of free enterprise. Locke has impactfully written on the rights of popular assemblies against kings, but how does this help businesses to compete against a host of alternatives? In similar ways, many fine authors on business, commerce, marketing and sales have never been entrepreneurs. So, these teachings, as valuable as they may be, must be accommodated to the world of the entrepreneur as each tries to build each one's own future.
Innovate but Differentiate
In these processes, one most surely will focus upon innovation of some type.
But, every successful entrepreneur well knows that differentiation is at least as important as is innovation. While innovation focuses upon the provider's offerings, differentiation focuses upon the value, satisfaction, utility or delight that the innovation provides to the customer. Innovation without differentiation seldom produces optimal appeal to potential customers or optimal results for the seller.
When these innovative differentials are significant, whole new categories of business opportunities can be, and are, created. Within these new categories, new opportunities are provided for many others to improve and expand the possibilities spawned by entrepreneurial leadership. In these ways, entrepreneurial leaders have increasingly more become major dynamic forces that are rapidly and significantly transforming our world. And, it is for these reasons that entrepreneurial leaders have become many of the new heroes and iconic role models of modern business and commerce.
Commerce, entrepreneurship and our personal undertakings have much in common. It might even be said that each of us in our own way and everyday living is a type of entrepreneur. We see and seek various opportunities that we hope will satisfy various wants and needs we may have – and we then pursue these opportunities and possibilities using ways and means that are consistent with our values and our ethical and moral standards. As free persons, we tend to pursue those things that we want to achieve. And the more we desire, or love what we are trying to accomplish, the better and more eager we will become in that pursuit.
What the Pursuit of Happiness Is All About
Sure, we want to succeed in those pursuits, but we also want to do so in ways that we will feel good about and which we trust will help us to become a better, happier and more fulfilled person. That's what the American ideal of the "pursuit of happiness" is all about. But, happiness is seldom achieved in the doing or pursuit of something one does not feel deeply about.
In our various pursuits, we each are both a theorist and a pragmatist. Our difficulties arise in relating one to another. We must at the same time be persons of thought and persons of action. The more thorough the thought, the better are the probabilities that the choices we make and the actions we affect will be correct ones. And the more energetic the actions, the more clearly must become the thought processes, lest we wear ourselves to exhaustion in bad choices, ways and means, all of which produce little positive results.
Sometimes, maybe most times, we start only with the most vague and murky ideas and refine or clarify them as we become engaged in the pursuit. But, the degree of entrepreneurial talent is largely determined by how well one is able to unite into a sound synthesis of theory and practice, ends and means, and the "is now" with the "ought to be" and the perseverance to have these become fashioned into that "will be" of the future, which changes everything about one's self and one's situation. In these endeavors, one must possess a commanding knowledge of one's field, the setting and the situations. Problems are always opportunities in disguise, but one must thoroughly understand the problems before one can provide unique or preferred solutions. But, "commanding knowledge" does not mean an extended awareness into every nook, cranny and crevice of an existing situation. Rather, it means thorough knowledge of everything germane and relevant.
"Commanding Knowledge" is not an extended awareness into every nook, cranny and crevice of the situation.
It means thorough knowledge of everything germane and relevant.
The difference is crucial.
Each of us thus largely also crafts our own self forward as we seek to accomplish our professional pursuits. In these endeavors, it is not so much that we are taught, but rather that we learn through our studies, interactions and experiences. But, we do not do so alone – or in a vacuum. Many forces are always at work – some are friendly and helpful; others are antagonistic and hurtful.
Constraints Conspire to Inspire
But, the greatest achievers usually find conflicts, difficulties, obstacles and obstructions to be somehow useful. The more resistant the opposing forces, the stronger becomes the muscle that strains against them; so, too, for our professional competencies. Constraints don't inhibit creativity and resourcefulness; they encourage, stimulate and inspire them. And challenges and difficulties are among the most stimulating causes of the positive, constructive responses that all work together to help leaders expand themselves, society and other individuals too.
And since all of this involves a great number of human beings, the entrepreneurial genius lies heavily in developing a realistic and astute view and understanding of human nature. The first such understanding is the realization that human nature is protean to the ultimate. The next understanding is that we humans are mixtures of extremes and not a blended average. We each are as good as the best that we have done, and as bad as the worst.
So, a successful entrepreneur, like anyone who is able to positively and constructively interact with others, has neither a utopian nor a pessimistic view of human beings. Rather, they know that people are a mixture of good and bad, of generosity and of greed, of selfishness and of magnanimity, of ignorance and of enlightenment, of stupidity and of cleverness, of kindness and ruthlessness, and of an almost endless variety of contraries with the less-becoming elements of our makeup too often predominating.
In this baffling mixture of traits that seems to be always changing with situation and circumstance, we must somehow function, making our lives as we try to make our living. And this ceaseless effort to make our living makes us. Just as we are shaped by our environments and by others, we each also further shape, in various ways, the environment we inhabit, and the others with whom we interdependently interact.
The world is full of immediate possibilities and restraining practicalities, and this is as it must be. We want, and need, the liberty and freedom to pursue our own heart's delight. But, there must be laws, rules, regulations and codes of conduct that restrain and regulate each of us lest we damage the liberties and freedoms that others also, by right, are entitled to have and to enjoy.
Honor. Integrity. Conscience. Ethics. Values. Morals.
All of these are at the same time both regulators and energizers.
Each entrepreneur will seek to lead an organization that reflects the substance, style and structure that is consistent with each one's own visions and values. The better and clearer those visions and values become, the more attractive and energizing they become to those who the entrepreneur must both attract and lead. And this attractiveness must be both a magnetic attractiveness and an appealing attraction as well.
Businesses must attract customers, staff and capital. In these attractions, trust is the coin of the realm. So, trust must never be depreciated or violated in any way. In the various halls and rooms of Cincom's offices are posters that succinctly advise that, "Trust Builds Relationships; Execution Builds Results." Since it is the results that determine in the end whether a business succeeds or fails, pragmatism and excellence of execution are both essential. But, so too is everything else upon which trust is created.
Trust builds relationships; execution builds results.
Trust is, and always will be, the coin of the realm.
Entrepreneurial leaders understand that we each, and the organizations we serve, are all parts of a vast cosmos of interacting relationships and functions. This network must be structured and controlled such that there is a harmonious, useful, valuable and profitable sense of community among all involved. Yet, management and guidance are essential to a proper functioning of structure. Successful entrepreneurial leaders well know and consistently practice the art of "Servant Leadership." The idea that "the superior of all must be the servant of all" is intuitively realized and faithfully practiced by successful entrepreneurial leaders. Such leaders realize that their staff does not work for the leader, but with the leader in their joint and unified pursuit of common goals. So, the leader must aid each member of the team to optimally perform and serve those common interests and objectives. "Servant Leadership" helps each to do more, and perform better.
Forward Learning ... Backward Understanding
Much of this we each already surely realize — at least to some degree. But, in life we learn forward. Only then are we able to begin to understand. This means that whatever we do understand, we understand only backwards, or retrospectively.
Keep this in mind.
You will make many errors as you try to proceed.
Seek to learn as much as you can from every situation and encounter.
But never let failings or current shortcomings cause you to become discouraged, intimidated or cynical.
The adage "If at first you don't succeed, then try, try and try again" is good advice for us all. If success were easy to achieve, then all of us would be successful. But, we know that, like success, nothing truly worthwhile is ever easy. That's why the ideas of dauntlessness in the face of adversity and courage amid danger are all such hallmarks of the successful among us.
