What's your secret sauce for building a great team?
The number one thing that ensures a great team is trust. But this isn't trust with just your manager, it's trust at every single level: your colleagues, your vendors, your clients, everything. When you launch a business, you're creating an ecosystem of values. If your vendors of clients don't align with your values, they will clash with you or your team, which will translate into headaches down the road. The best way to avoid this is to protect your business ecosystem and make sure your values don't get compromised. This all begins with trust.
What do you wish you had known 10 years ago?
I launched my business nearly 8 years ago. When I first started, I was in full survival mode because I needed to bring in money for my little business to survive. So everything was about me, me, me. Well, fast forward 8 years and now, I realize that the key to success is not focusing on myself, but empowering my team to succeed. If you treat your employees well, they'll do great work and they'll treat your customers the way you want to be treated. As a leader, the energy you portray to your team trickles down to every single part of your business, including how your employees treat your customers. So, empower your team by setting a great example for them.
What helped you accelerate your growth as a leader / entrepreneur?
Honestly, the best accelerants for my entrepreneurial growth has been challenges stemming from unexpected changes. How you adapt and react to change will determine your future success. For example, COVID hit us hard. We were forced out of our office in February 2020 and while everybody was scared, we were lucky to sign a favorable lease because we looked for a warehouse during the pandemic lockdown. We had a record revenue year in 2020 thanks to the pandemic. Unexpected changes are a natural part of the journey and if you treat them right, they'll help you grow in ways you never expected.
What should leaders understand about their own role and responsibility?
In my opinion, the primary job of a leaders is to always develop more leaders. Of course, at the start, you might just be mentoring new employees. But, as they grow within your organization, you should put them into roles and assign responsibilities that will help them grow as a leader. It will not only challenge them (which will help retain your best employees), but it'll help you grow the company so you don't become the bottleneck for decision-making.
What book do you recommend the most?
I love everything Jim Collins has written including Good to Great, Great by Choice, Flywheel Effect, Beyond Entrepreneurship 2.0, everything.
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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.
What's a mistake that you're happy you've made?
I'm happy I chose a highly regulated market, even though it was tough. It taught me a lot about patience, attention to detail, and the importance of doing things right. These lessons have made me better at what I do.