What shift in mindset has allowed you to see things differently?
I've come to see mistakes not as the end of the road but as the starting line for learning. Rather than viewing failures as setbacks, I now see them as essential stepping stones to success. This mindset makes me more receptive to new ideas and approaches.
What personal habit or behavior helped you accelerate your personal growth?
I've always been disciplined and persevering, and I've developed these qualities primarily through sport. They also help me enormously in business. This discipline keeps me focused and allows me to keep going even in difficult phases.
When times are tough, who or what is an anchor for you?
I'm lucky to have a great support network of family and friends. When things get tough, I can always rely on them to give me a boost and help me switch off from work. These social connections give me the strength to power through and recharge my batteries.
What’s a guiding principle that informs the way you build and run your business?
Trust is really important to me. Over time, I've learned that it's essential in a start-up. Even when things don't go according to plan, everyone needs to be able to rely on each other. When the team has trust in each other, they can work together on innovative ideas and communicate openly.
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Here’s More, From Other Founders Around the World
What’s an important guiding principle that informs the way you build and run your business?
One of our core values is experimentation. Rather than get stuck in arguing about what solution may best solve a problem or play to our ego, we focus on the smallest step we could possibly take to learn whether that’s true. It moves our minds away from thinking too big without sweating the small stuff and from getting stuck in discussions rather than actually doing something to understand the possible solutions better.
What should leaders understand about their own role and responsibility?
Your own time and energy is the most precious resource you have. Use it wisely, and learn what gives you energy, and what saps you. In the early years of building something, you need to throw a huge amount of time at it - and do many things you perhaps don’t like doing. But as you scale, it’s vital to take a step back and build a business that can grow rapidly beyond the time you put into it.
What shift in perspective has allowed you to see things differently?
It may sound simple, but realizing and truly understanding that we are all different and driven by different things has made a significant impact on me. This insight has changed the way I approach relationships and leadership.
What’s a guiding principle that informs the way you build and run your business?
One of our core values at Cozero is radical candor. It is the idea that the willingness to repeatedly enter uncomfortable situations to speak the truth benefits everyone in the long run. We believe that in order to grow and improve as an organization, we need to create an environment where our team is not afraid to challenge processes and decisions. Making this a core value guides us in difficult situations when it’s not clear which road to take.