Does a founder need to be abrasive / put company needs over employee needs for a startup to succeed?
Was reading the Steve Jobs book recently and realized he probably wasn't the easiest to work with / definitely did not create a great culture around him, especially in the early Apple years. Remembered the movie on blackberry that I saw couple weeks ago and how it was this crazy, hard-ass ceo took charge and actually turned the company around, otherwise Blackberry would be nowhere in our memories today. Do you think this is what is actually needed to build successful companies early on - and employee wellbeing and culture are things to be solved for later in the journey of a company?
Until a startup becomes a stable company, founders should keep the company's needs before employees' as without the company - the employees won't be there in the first place.
Once a company is stable, then without the employees it won't remain stable. That's when you need to prioritise employees' needs.
Yeah but I guess it's always a thin line - at what point do you say the company is really stable and culture starts taking precedence? There's always a new battle being fought
As a founder, you can realise when your company becomes relatively stable. As I mentioned in the last point, if at that point the founder doesn't prioritise employees' needs, then the company won't remain stable.
I'm no founder but I think as an employee, I'd hope the company is relatively stable in roughly 2 years of it being founded.
Steve Jobs, Blackberry's CEO, all abrasive? Yes, but they were also visionaries. Employee wellbeing, culture, all secondary. Success first. But, is this the only way to win?
Yeah it seems that though being a visionary seems to give you a free pass for being erratic.
Maybe I have a selection bias, but it seems to me that it's more common to have "visionary" ceos building these great companies without second thought on employee welfare
Absolutely not! A startup's success isn't about being a hard taskmaster. It's about vision, passion, and teamwork. Remember, even a lion needs its pride! So, what's your startup's vision?
