The founder path is stressful and few founders survive the scale-up journey unscathed. If you don’t scale your leadership as you scale your company, you’re unlikely to survive, writes Rachel E Turner

Bob graduated with a First in Computer Science from Oxford University. In his mid-thirties, he saw an opportunity in the AI space, developed his own proprietary software and left corporate life to launch his software firm.

He was extremely driven, technically brilliant and an inspiring communicator. Within two years, he had a small team of committed staff and investors clamouring to fund a high-potential scale-up. Everyone was talking 10x growth and Bob was flying high.

A year after taking significant capital investment the cracks started to appear. As staff numbers tripled, rumblings of employee discontent could be heard around the water coolers and on Slack.

Leadership team meetings became increasingly fractious and two key members of staff resigned. Investors started to question Bob’s leadership capability and board meetings became a source of dread.

When one of Bob’s investors suggested he get a coach to help him with his leadership, he was offended. ‘I don’t need help with my leadership,’ he said. ‘I just think my team need to get on with the job I’ve hired them to do.’

In Association with

As part of Bob’s coaching programme, I interviewed some of his team, investors and clients to understand their experience of Bob’s leadership. Everyone admired his vision, his commitment, his passion and his dedication. No one worked as hard as Bob. No one knew more about AI than Bob. Any technical problem the leadership team had, Bob knew the solution.

But Bob was a hammer, and any problem he found, he hammered it. When he saw something that wasn’t perfect, he jumped on it. If anyone underperformed, he grabbed the task and did it himself. If any member of the board didn’t agree with him, he’d argue and shout until he got what he wanted.

No one knew where they stood. ‘We have this grand vision,’ said one of his leadership team, ‘but absolutely no plan, no clear roles, no milestones. Bob cancels our management meetings most weeks, so I’ve no idea what he or anyone else is working on.’

Bob’s leadership team tried to tell him that they needed a clear plan and that he needed to delegate more effectively, but nothing they said seemed to make any difference. Bob became super-defensive, doubled down on his natural leadership mode and grew increasingly resentful of his ‘whinging staff’. This, of course, exacerbated the problem.

‘I think I’m a good leader,’ said Bob in one of our first sessions. ‘If I wasn’t, how could I have raised so much capital from investors and attracted so much top talent to come and work for me?’

Bob was right. He was a good leader – for the start-up phase of the business. But he hadn’t scaled his leadership as the business scaled. Now the very strengths that had made him great at the start-up phase were proving to be the kryptonite of the scale-up phase.

Bob had one way to lead, and even though it was no longer working, he didn’t know how else to do it. So he kept doubling down on what he knew – in effect, doubling the kryptonite.

The WAM model

Most founders don’t spend a lot of time thinking about their leadership, they simply do ‘what comes naturally’. Or they assume that who they are is how they lead and can’t be changed. Like Bob, when faced with problems, they do more of what’s worked in the past, then get frustrated and impatient if that doesn’t work.

Successful founders know that being able to adapt and flex their leadership is essential. They understand that what their team, customers and investors need from them changes radically as the business grows.

When I start working with a founder, we reflect on their leadership and the challenges they face in their business and explore the link between the two. Then we explore how they can adapt their style to meet the evolving needs of the business while remaining authentic and true to themselves.

To help my clients navigate these complexities, I created the WAM model, which refers to three key leadership modes founders need to develop as they scale their business. These are:

• Brave Warrior (Start-up) - Single-minded, bullet-proof self-belief, fast and full of ideas.
• Considered Architect (Scale-up) - Team/systems thinker, calm and unflappable, expert planner.
• Wise Monarch (Grown-up) - Strategist, gravitas and presence, politically astute.

These three styles correlate to three different stages of business growth. I use the WAM model and these three archetypes as easy touchstones to help clients remember how they need to show up at different stages of their business.

Pause for a moment and think about a Brave Warrior. See them charging on the field of battle – fearless, focused, determined, adaptable. They find a way around any obstacle, ignore the injury to their leg, roar at their troops to follow them once more into the breach. They are single-minded, bulletproof, fast, innovative, adaptable and comfortable with risk. You need all of these attributes at the start-up phase of your business.

Now imagine a Considered Architect poring over blueprints at head office. They’re wondering how to build the skyscraper, how much glass and steel they’ll need, what will need to happen first, second, third, fourth. They’re pondering the teams they’ll need, and the systems they’ll put in place.

They are planning and systematising and, once the build commences, they’re on site talking to their teams, solving problems and keeping the plan on track. You need to be able to do all of these things at the scale-up phase of your business.

And last but not least think of the Wise Monarch. Imagine them walking into their court, oozing gravitas and authority. See how they hold themselves tall, how unflappable and calm they look. See them conversing with their courtiers, greeting the public with a smile and a question. In moments of adversity they are either reassuring or rallying their people.

In ancient times the Wise Monarch was the chief diplomat, strategist and figurehead, the person we trusted and wanted to follow. You need to be all of these things at the grown-up phase of your business.

It’s not just your stage of business growth that will inform the leadership mode you need to lean into. There are challenges you will face at each stage that will be better addressed if you can adapt your leadership mode accordingly.

None of these leadership modes is right or wrong, they are simply right or wrong for a specific challenge. Your ability to lean into each mode, while playing to your natural strengths, will dictate how successful you are at stewarding your business through the different stages and challenges of business growth.

• Rachel E Turner (pictured) is author of The Founder’s Survival Guide