Hi! I’m Stephanie Breedlove, Co-Founder of Care.com HomePay, Author and Angel Investor.
I absolutely adore taking an idea and giving it life in the form a business, then leading it to its full potential. Nothing is more fun. (Seriously!) I’d love for every woman who wants to start her own business to say the same thing, so here I am, mentoring millennial entrepreneurs. When I’m not working, I like to recharge and head outdoors to hike, bike, or stand up paddle board!
Is that list of business news and trending articles you’ve tagged still unread? I get it. Allow me to help. Take a couple minutes to read my summary of articles serving the most pertinent, actionable business topics. Or, take 10 minutes to read the full article, and put another brick on the foundation of your growing career.
This Week’s Must-Read:
Why You Need to Push Your Employees to Think Like Entrepreneurs
Who it’s for:
Anyone leading a team – founders and managers alike.
Why it’s important:
If you are an employee, do you sometimes feel like your efforts don’t have much of an impact? If you are a founder, do you sometimes feel that success lies almost exclusively in your efforts? We’ve all felt insignificant way at one time or another, and it’s a cancer that must be stopped. The reality is every role matters, particularly for small businesses. As founders or managers, it’s our job to create an environment where each team member knows that her or his performance matters at epic proportions. Here are actionable steps to help employees think and work like the boss:
- Cultivate the Founder’s Mentality: It’s important for an employee to think like a founder. This helps the employee make better decisions and to contribute more fully to the growth of the start-up.
- Make Them Responsible Leaders: By giving employees authority and allowing them to think like an entrepreneur, founders give employees the room to be more responsible. In young companies, solutions need end-to-end ownership and increased authority allows for the development of complete solutions.
- Grow the Ability to Address What’s Wrong: Employees can’t always fall back on their founder. In these cases, employees need to step up and think like an entrepreneur rather than simply working on the tasks that are outlined.
- Give Them Incentive to Grow: Employees must have something to aim for; they can’t be expected to just work hard without incentive. Providing incentive and profit-sharing spurs growth, and when employees grow as little as 10%, your company can grow up to 90%.
Top Take-Away/Final Thought: Employees who tend to think like entrepreneurs tend to have a larger view on the overall macro, which helps align them more closely with the founder’s vision. This helps the company achieve goals faster while cultivating growth and fulfillment for every position in the company, which ultimately builds that coveted culture that allows good ideas to become great!
Want a deeper dive on strategies for creating a company of owners? Check out these related articles:
How to Get Your Employees to Think Like Owners
How to Get Your Employees to Think Strategically
How to Engage Your Workforce (And Get Them to Think Like CEOs)