Calum Brannan - Social Media's Cowboy Builder?

This blog has been created to document the business antics of Mr Calum Brannan, a self-proclaimed young technology entrepreneur and Social Media guru.

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Calum Brannan - Is Social Media's Cowboy Builder

This blog documents the activities of Calum Brannan and his business associates.

Wednesday, 30 December 2009

Calum Brannan's view of leadership

This latest article on Calum's personal website/blog calumbrannan.com  was worth republishing for its sheer irony and humour value:
Running a business at any point in anyone’s life can prove a challenge. There’s the race to breaking even [something he never actually achieved except with other peoples' money!], not breaking your team, smashing your competition and ensuring throughout the whole process you stay enthusiastic, optimistic and honest! [OMG - did he actually say that?]
Personally I’ve had no formal education in running a team (nor running a business) [and it seems to shine through as brightly as a lighthouse beacon!] but I sure have observed and seen many great leaders in action, and those not so great!
I’d like to share some of the do’s and don’ts which I try to live and work by.
  • Celebrate success whenever it happens in a way people appreciate.
  • Don’t do public humiliation when people mess up, it’s the easiest way to piss off your rockstar team and make them feel small and stupid.
  • Clear processes and expectations . Make sure everyone buys into the company vision. Remember, a company vision isn’t ‘All the directors on their private islands with a glass of red wine’. A company visision is a shared vision of where the organisation wants to be. [Yeah, right - just read this!]
  • In the start-up world, make sure your team doesn’t include bullies or ‘bastard bosses’. Whilst TV programs like the apprentice show great bosses who have blunt tactics, the start-up work place is too small for this kind of attitude. [Except when you have a prima-donna as your team leader who has, by his own admission, "no formal education in running a team (nor running a business)" and you need to keep them under control while they fritter away the cash........ maybe?!]
  • Always hire your rockstars on the salaries that you can afford and they deserve. Obviously in start-up companies this is much harder to do, but show them you care!
  • This final point is one that I have found to do at all times. Recently I’d like to be able to say I’ve really tried to live by this each day: Lead by example!
 You can read the original post here http://calumbrannan.com/2009/09/leading-a-team-from-the-front/

Enjoy!
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