Who am I and if so how many?
#4 - Changing the hats your wearing throughout the today, should be as normal as changing your pants each morning.
What we spoke about last time
Burgers should be your key take away from last time. If nothing stayed with you, that should have at least. I’ve mentioned burgers 22 times. So what was it all about burgers? Social Norms. Social Norms, which can enhance and cultivate your company’s culture or it can unconsciously harm and hazard it. Therefore actively managing it and seeking to improve it is key. Though you also should keep in mind that you need to create context and not cancel the whole burger menu in one day. Just take your time and be deliberate about it.
A theatre full of characters
Well, theatre? Yes, theatre. That’s the very right term to describe todays topic. The questions you need to raise are:
Am I able to play and act in different characters?
Am I conscious about it or not?
Have I ever asked myself these questions before?
Starting with the last, “Have I ever asked myself these questions before?”, well it’s never too late and you are reading this newsletter right now, which seems to be a great starting point. So if you have been unconscious about you the different characters you are playing throughout the day, great, this is something to start with. But how am I actually recognizing my different characters? That we’ll cover in the sections below.
As for the last question: “Am I able to play and act in different characters?” If you can answer that one with yes, lucky you! You can skip to the end of my newsletter and saved some time. Though, if you are still interested feel free to read on as you can do in case your answer would’ve been no.
The characters you have to play
So why is it important to recognize that one hast to play different characters as a founder? Well, the main reason might be that you have many different expectations to fulfill. As you might recall from one of my previous issues, talking about defining your role in your startup.
Definitely another major one is making tough calls and decisions, which might be difficult, nerve-racking or in any imaginable form uncomfortable for you. That might be because you are still human and not an insensitive piece of furniture and will therefore experience several times moments of uncertainty.
In addition to the arguments I’ve already made, it’s also a protection for your own very personal character. Being a founder and experiencing the severe gravity of creating and building a startup, can change your character and personality. Not always for the better, pushing you to your limits and to a potential burnout.
That’s why having different characters at hand, comes in handy ;)
If you don’t want to play
If you find all this character talk weird and strange and you decide, mahh, that’s not for me. That’s okay, I am only writing from my personal experience and most certainly am not the keeper of the eternal truth here. The only thing I might add is that it help me tremendously at being better at my job as a founder and a manager.
Who am I and when how many?
Playing different roles and wearing many hats is a founder’s daily business. So where to start? As discussed in one of my earlier issues about defining your role, that might be good start or just writing the most obvious ones down. Asking your mentors or fellow founders is also great. Having a decent enough list, which always can be amended afterwards, is perfectly fine.
Bring your characters to life
So having your list in hand you might have something on it like:
Founder, CEO, C-Something, Coach, Data Dude, Supporter, Tech-Nerd, etc.
As you read through them, try to think of a role model for each of them. As you might recall also, it’s essential to establish a benchmark for yourself and making sure, that’s actually of high standard and relevant to your situation.
Having that settled, you can now start setting standards as your character. As always, try not to change things over night, rather adjust it step by step. Otherwise you’ll face headwind 🙏🏻
Matching character and requirement with your situation
A tricky task for sure. Learning to adjust to an evolving situation, meeting or conversation is tough. So starting off with the easy bits, make up your mind about the situation, meeting or conversation you are about to have. What character and therefore role is in order to manage it properly? Having a decent answer to that one will keep you out of trouble for the most part.
Like a muscle you can train, learning and adapting over time will allow you to become more flexible in adjusting to the appropriate character.
Making the tough calls and uneasy decisions
Well, there a plenty of situations were it is necessary to make a decision and since you are the founder, most of the time it falls to you to make it. Especially in the early days there are plenty of occasions were you character is required.
The first thing you want to do in the build up is getting rid of the right-or-wrong-framework. As mentioned there is no right or wrong decision to be made rather a decision on what to focus or to emphasize. Making no decision is by the way, also a decision. Though keep in mind that it is sometimes to make no decision, especially under pressure or being pressured, it should always be your last resort. That’s set, the questions you should answer for yourself are these:
What would a great / awesome founder’s expectation be?
Am I ready to stand by this decision and defend it in public in my character as founder (CEO, COO, CXO)?
Am I personally ready to stand by this decision and defend it in public?
In case YES, go ahead 🚀🦄
In case NO, is that decision in my personal interest or that of the company?
In case YES, it’s in my personal interest, how would the above mentioned awesome founder react? → Then make the call 🫶🏻 (you got this!!)
In case NO, it’s in the interest of my company → Go ahead make the call 💥
As you might realize, it is all about stepping outside of your personal perception and taking a step back. Acting in your character rather than personal perceptions and therefore allowing you to make a better call for your company. Implying that this particular great founder is a decent role model and not a culprit ;)
Deciding is hard, especially if things are not black and white. But reframing it to another perspective (aka character) and what you want to emphasize, you are letting much pressure out of the kettle and are able to make tough calls and decisions.
Your three key takeaways
It’s not about what you want or care for, it’s about your role you have to fill as a founder.
Being able to consciously switch between different roles is key skill as a manager.
Easy choices will bring you hard times as a manager. Hard choices will bring you (more) easy times or better: You don’t have to deal with this stuff, because you settle it and therefore can focus on other issues and topics.
What’s coming up next?
As you are able to adjust your mindset to the role necessary to be played, another essential aspect is understanding, when it’s the eleventh hour aka five minutes to midnight 👀 but you perceive the problem just as minor or new to you. What’s actually happening: Your ship is already on fire, while you acting like it’s a minor problem. Issues raised to you by your employees tend to be more urgent and pressing than you think, because you tend to see only the tip of the iceberg. Not what’s beneath the surface. Therefore it’s key to dive into the icy water and understand the issue asap otherwise you’ll lose your ship. But don’t forget your binoculars too..
Current book on my nightstand
I do read a lot, but it’s not for everyone. Maybe you are more into audio like podcasts or you avoid books at all costs 🤓. Delving into a new topic now and then can start with an interesting book title nevertheless.
Everyone has great intentions and the best of attitude. Though rather more often than you like it, issues rise time and time again. E.g. a key attribute was forgotten in a deal in your CRM tool, which causes rerouting and asking people what was actually sold? This might be just one example here, but dealing with good intentions is a waste of time, build rather systems with a forcing function:
Thinking in Systems
Why you’d read it
As exemplified above building processes that cannot not produce the results you want is your ultimate goal. Understanding how to think therefore in systems and addressing problems in a certain manner and framework will support you with your quest. Thinking in Systems is surely a great starting point in understanding and seeing the world in a very different angle.