Why ToBeWise™ for Startups

 Q: What is the rationale for a startup founder/CEO/team to study these quotations?

A: Studying quotations from successful venture capitalists and entrepreneurs can offer startup founders, CEOs, and teams several benefits:

• Wisdom and Insight: These quotations often encapsulate years, if not decades, of experience in just a few words. By studying them, founders can access distilled wisdom without having to go through the same trials and tribulations.

• Inspiration and Motivation: The entrepreneurial journey is fraught with challenges. Quotations from those who've been through it and succeeded can serve as a source of motivation, reminding founders of the bigger picture and the potential rewards of perseverance.

• Perspective: These quotes can provide a different perspective or approach to a problem that a startup might be facing. It might offer a new way to think about an issue or validate a strategy the team is considering.

• Avoiding Mistakes: Some of these quotations might highlight common pitfalls or mistakes in the startup world. By heeding these words, startups might be able to sidestep some of these common errors.

• Strategic Thinking: Many venture capitalists think in terms of market dynamics, competitive advantage, and long-term value creation. Their quotes can help founders align their strategies with these broader themes.

• Understanding Investor Mindset: If a startup is looking to raise funds, understanding how top VCs think can be invaluable. It can offer insights into what investors prioritize and value, which can be instrumental in pitching and negotiations.

• Networking and Building Relationships: Being familiar with the thoughts and philosophies of influential people in the startup ecosystem can be a conversation starter and can help in building relationships at networking events or conferences.

• Decision Making: The world of startups often involves making decisions under uncertainty. Some quotes emphasize the importance of decisive action, calculated risk-taking, and adaptability, which can guide founders in their decision-making processes.

• Cultural and Value Building: Quotations that resonate with a founder can be integrated into the company's culture and values. They can serve as guiding principles for the team and can be referred to during company meetings, strategy sessions, and onboarding new members.

• Continuous Learning: The tech and startup industry is one of rapid change and evolution. These quotes often reflect timeless principles but also emphasize the importance of continuous learning and adaptation. They can inspire founders to always remain curious and be on the lookout for new knowledge and insights.

In essence, these quotations are not just words but encapsulations of experiences, lessons, and philosophies. While not every quote will resonate with every founder, the right ones can serve as a compass, guiding startups through the myriad challenges they face.

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Culture vs. Strategy

There is a famous Peter Drucker quote that says that "culture eats strategy for breakfast". This implies that the culture of your company always determines success regardless of how effective your strategy may be.

When he said that culture eats strategy for breakfast, Drucker pointed out the importance of the human factor in any company. No matter how detailed and solid your strategy is, if the people executing it don't nurture the appropriate culture, your projects will fail.

Culture isn't about comfy chairs and happy hours at the office. Rather, it's more about the ways your employees act in critical situations, how they manage pressure and respond to various challenges, and how they treat partners and customers, and each other.

What Does ‘Culture Eats Strategy’ Mean?

The culture eats strategy for breakfast quote means that no matter how strong your strategic plan is, its efficacy will be held back by members of your team if they don't share the proper culture. When it comes down to it, the people implementing the plan are the ones that make all the difference.

If your employees aren't passionate about your company's vision, they won't be enthusiastic about executing the plan, and then your strategy stands no chance. Your company will struggle to execute daily strategies, and implementing a new one would be doomed to fail.

Company culture happens, whether you work on it or not. It represents the core of the company, and most of it is created by the business founders—sometimes unknowingly. The actions of the founders and executives speak louder than their words in the process of culture creation. 

What Do We Mean When We Say “Culture” and “Strategy”?

Corporate culture is never definite. It's very complex and ever-changing. Culture is vulnerable and dependable on the moods of the people who define it. It's a crucial factor for the long-term success of every business. No matter how hard you work on your perfectly organized strategy, in the end, the people bringing it to life are the ones responsible for its success or its demise.

Many company owners and executives focus on the financial, rational, and legal side of the business, but they fail to incorporate the appropriate culture. Culture is the way your company as a whole operates toward fulfilling your goals—but it also includes the behavior and core values of each employee.

While strategy defines direction and focus, culture is the habitat in which strategy lives or dies. Strategy focuses on resourcefulness and skillfulness, while culture defines engagement, passion, and execution.

With proper strategy, you create the rules for playing, but culture determines the way the game will be played.

How Do Culture And Strategy Work Together In A Business?

If not based on the right values, culture eats strategy for lunch (as well as breakfast). However, in a perfect scenario, culture and strategy complement and nurture each other. Strategy and culture should be created simultaneously, making sure they are perfectly aligned. When in sync, they enable each other to create incredible organizational transformations.

When you're aware of the true culture of your business, it is easy to create a strategic business plan because you're familiar with all the factors. Think of culture as a landscape on which you execute your strategic plan. A walk on pavement takes less time and energy than climbing through a mountain pass.

Knowing your culture means knowing what to expect from your team, which comes as a valuable resource in planning a strategy. Your strategy plan has a greater chance of being efficient if you apply a realistic perspective to it. Culture and strategy make a powerful duo when combined perfectly, and you should always incorporate both in your plans if you want your vision to succeed.

How To Implement a Healthy Culture In Your Office

If you're worried that culture is eating strategy at your company, you need to consider implementing a different, healthy culture in the office. 

Here are several business tips you can use to start nurturing a company culture that leads to growth:

Ask questions

Conduct a survey and encourage your employees to be open about the things they would change in the company. Ask them what they would like to see in the future and work on making their perfect future career fit in with your company's vision.

Develop a solid vision

All of your employees need to know where the company is going and how their work contributes to your business vision. If your organization has no clear vision, no defined values, and no sense of direction, you're nurturing inadequate culture.

Celebrate small wins on the way to success

Employees will adopt a culture that makes them feel passionate and enthusiastic about your goals if you show them how all short-term wins matter because they lead to the achievement of your long-term vision.

Want additional insight? Download Easy Ways to Improve Your Company Culture

Written by The Alternative Board | Feb 26, 2020

Additional reading:

Culture Takes Over When The CEO Leaves The Room

    (Clarity, Communication, Consistency)

Books for Startups

Your Company Library will be much more compact.
I just love this library at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland.

Why you want a 
"Company Library"

Your Company Library is a system for communication. The primary job of the CEO/business owner is to communicate. Not just the goals of the business, but also how the organization is to work.

The most effective, and efficient, way to do this is with the Company Library that contains books, videos, and links to online resources that are usually created by outside experts on the most important aspects of the company's philosophy and operations.

Some of these volumes are to be consumed by everyone in the organization. Others are for just the members of a particular department, such as Sales or Product Development. It should be determined by each CEO which volumes are to be consumed prior to employment, and after, and even how many times per year these volumes are to be reviewed. Repetition is important.

The purpose is to have everyone in the organization be crystal clear when it comes to the basic philosophies of the company, the corporate culture, the goals, and what is required for continued participation in the adventure.

The books listed below are an example of a recommended Company Library. Your Company Library may be different. We invite you to let us know of your success with these resources, as well as to inform us of others that you have found helpful.

A Startup Library

Personal Goals, Priorities

First Things First by Stephen R. Covey

Business Thinking

The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It by Michael Gerber

Management

High Output Management by Andy Grove
The Great CEO Within by Matt Mochary
Measure What Matters by John Doerr
The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker

Sales, individual

What Great Salespeople Do: The Science of Selling Through Emotional Connection and the Power of Story by Michael Bosworth

Sales, as a system

The Ultimate Sales Machine: Turbocharge Your Business with Relentless Focus on 12 Key Strategies by Chet Holmes

Business Process Documentation

The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande

Product Development

The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries



Some thoughts from experience:

1.  Limit the number of books in your library. This will create FOCUS on the principles involved and build the lingua franca of your organization. When everyone is speaking the same language based on your shared wisdom, then you are well on your way to an invincible corporate culture.

2.  Some books are important for everyone in the company to read, as they form the underlying philosophies of your company. This may include your personal and company Genesis Story. 

3.  Your company library may sit prominently on a shelf in some common area in your space, but it should also be in the personal workspace of the team members.  Everyone in the company should have their own personal copies of the books involved.

4.  Repetition is essential to get the ideas and processes ingrained as Habits. Refer to the book passages often in 1-1 meetings, team meetings, etc. 

5.  Before you finalize a hire, gift prospective team members a copy of your most essential book as a way to find the best people for your company. There will be some who don't read it, and that's a great way to weed out those who are a poor fit. You want the ones who read it and get it wholeheartedly.

6.  Beware the Tyranny of the Idea du Jour as expressed, breathlessly, in some blog, video, conference, or even a team member. Resist the urge to add it to your company library and recommend it to everyone. The more you add to your library, the more you will dilute your main message.

7.  Begin it Now. Start small. Just one book, maybe two. What do you believe in? What book contains your foundational business success principles? If you're drawing a blank on that, start asking others, especially successful business builders who you respect.

8.  When you have consumed and mastered the subject matter in the short list above, you might want to expand your horizons a bit with this list. But before you do, revisit Note 6, above.